Fade to Black
by Bonami27
Summary: AU story set between Book One and Book Two with the addition of characters from later in the series; Korra fails to expose Amon and take down the Equalist Faction, after a botched attempt to infiltrate them at one of the rallies, which leads to Mako's capture. A year on, and after much change, the two are reunited, but not in the way any expect.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One Part One: Fade to Black

* * *

Today, Korra was dressed entirely in black.

Her usual blue tank top, with the white trim, that she regularly wore, was tucked away in her closet that day. Instead she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt that covered her wrists. Loose black pants replaced the usual blue pair that contrasted with her tank. Her normally brown boots, too, were replaced by a pair exactly the same but in black.

The only thing that was not black about Korra that day were her brilliant turquoise eyes, her chocolate brown hair and her mocha coloured skin. Even her mood had taken on a dark gloom.

She was now making her way to Republic City Hall, where again she would be briefed on the current situation in the Earth Kingdom that she and the other members of the Republic City Council had been discussing for weeks now. She took a deep breath as she walked down the street towards the looming doors, smiling steadily as she walked along the street towards the ornately sculptured building, waving to people she knew, greeting them brightly, however each and every person stared at her attire, though none could find a polite way of commenting about it. Korra did not mind, in fact it was better for her if they did not ask—she did not want to have to explain to anyone why she was wearing black, it was just too painful to think about.

Despite the smiles and cheerful waves she gave people as she went, the dark feeling of gloom still rested on her shoulders. She had a good reason for wearing black that day, for it was almost exactly—

"Korra!" came an exuberant exclamation from behind her. A small smile appeared on her lips as Korra shook her head from side to side. Perhaps a dose of Bolin would be enough to keep her mind off of her sadness.

Turning her head back down the path that she had just come from, Korra saw Bolin sprinting towards her, waving energetically. A broad grin was on his kind face. He skidded to a stop in front of her and almost crashed into some people who were walking by, much to Korra's alarm. Bolin on the other hand seemed undaunted, or he simply did not notice, and looked at Korra happily.

"Hey, Kor!" he grinned.

"Hey, Bolin," she did her best to smile at him, "Why are you in such a hurry at this time of morning?"

"Oh, well…not really in a hurry," Bolin scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, "It's just that I promised Jinora, Kai, Ikki, Meelo and of course Rohan that I'd treat them to Narook's today. Asami's coming along too and I was just wondering if you wanted to come along, Kor, because you seem awfully…I don't know, _distant_ lately."

Korra began to think on Bolin's observation of her recent behavior. Had she really been that aloof that even Bolin had noticed? She grimaced slightly before replying, "You sure you want to treat all of them to Narook's? You know how much Meelo eats…"

"Yeah, you do have a point there… But that's okay. I feel I should treat them every now and then, seeing as I am still living on Air Temple Island and all. So, you going to come along?"

"Sorry, Bo," she apologised, "I have a lot of work to get through with the Council, and I don't think I'll make it out of there before midnight. You know how dragged out those meetings can be..." Not to mention that she would feel out of place; She hadn't been to visit Air Temple Island in a long time, and not seen any of the Air Benders in an even longer expanse of time. Additionally, she would rather be alone that day.

"Aw, come on Kor!" Bolin begged, "It'll be lots of fun!"

"Thanks for the offer Bolin," she shook her head a little more firmly, knowing that if she gave him an inch, he would never give up begging, "but perhaps another time. I'm just too busy. I'm really sorry that I can't come, as much as I'd like too."

"Couldn't you just skip out on _one_ meeting, Kor?"

"Definitely not, you should know that Lin would skin me alive if I even dare to pull a stunt like that _again_." she said firmly, "People are depending on me, Bo. And besides, I'm sure you don't need my company. Jinora, Kai and the other kids, you being one of them, can have a wonderful time without me."

"Korra," Bolin spoke up, "They do say, the more the merrier."

"Well, they also say that less is more," Korra laughed lightly in return, "We sure contradict ourselves, don't we? Anyway, I'm going to be late if I don't hurry. Thank you for the offer, but I'll come along next time if I'm able. See you around!"

Bolin sulked. Korra smiled a little sadly and waved before turning and walking briskly down the remainder of the street. She had wasted too much time as it was. Lin Beifong in particular was very strict when it came to being on time. I don't care if you're the Avatar or not, I'll not put up with a lack in punctuality. You'd do well to remember that, Korra' she had emphasized. Korra remembered feeling, for the time since having met the Chief of Police, a sense of fear towards her. Lin Beifong sure was intimidating.

Pushing open the doors to the meeting room, Korra greeted the faces of the other members of the council, asides from Tenzin, with the usual twitch. How she hated having to be here. And to be here almost every day was not how Korra wished to be spending her time. She shook her head firmly, not wanting to waste any more time by dwelling on the current situation regarding her daily schedule, and made her way to her allocated seat at the large desk before her.

"Good morning, Korra," one of the members, whose name currently escaped Korra, greeted her, smiling, "Lin would like to see you privately before we begin the meeting for today. You'll find her on the fourth floor, third door on the right."

"Thanks." Korra replied, instead of sitting down she made her way to the elevator. Checking the clock that was a standard installment in all elevators, she sighed in annoyance, she had only three minutes to get up to the fourth floor. The elevator seemed to be taking forever and she mashed the button on the wall impatiently. After what seemed to be an eternity, the door opened and Korra dashed inside, pushing the button for the fourth floor. She breathed a sigh as the elevator began to move upwards. Looked like it was going to be a long day.

* * *

It was damp—always damp. He hated the damp. Being a fire bender, damp always irked him, for reasons unknown even to him. It was not like it was anything new to him, it had always been dank in the underground that was the Equalist's base, and one would think that after a year of being held captive in various underground bases, he would have grown used to it. But even after that extended period of time, Mako still hated the musty smell, among other things.

Perhaps it was because of the tinge of apprehension he felt that day that the smell and the feeling in the air bothered him more than ever. Amon himself had summoned him, said that he needed to speak with him over a small matter. Mako scoffed quietly to himself, he was not stupid, and Amon knew not to take Mako lightly nor that he was not fooled, and therefore had placed the room heavily under guard. Not that he couldn't deal with the guards—it was just the inconvenience of causing a ruckus, thereby bringing more Equalist lackeys after him after his attempt at escape.

Mako slammed his fist down hard onto the concrete wall next to his bed, so hard that it cracked and crumbled slightly from the force. This was _not_ how he was going to meet his end. Mako had met with his current situation after Amon had captured him just over a year ago during one of his and Korra's infiltrations of an Equalist rally in Republic City. Mako, while scared beyond what he'd be willing to admit, had been relieved when Korra had escaped the same fate as he currently found himself being a victim of.

Mako had had it all planned out: by this time, a year from when he had been taken by Amon and the Equalists he would have escaped and used whatever remaining strength and power of his own to eventually surpass the overthrow Amon, and kill him. When all that was said and done, he'd return to Republic City and, in whatever way he could, go back to his life that was surely awaiting him.

But of course his plans of escape and a coup had naturally been ruined when today Mako was called forth to 'talk' with Amon over a small matter. The small matter in question, of course, was the matter of Mako's defiance against Amon, and the consequences were unquestionably Mako would have his bending taken from him; something that he had planned to keep from happening. But he realized that at his current state, he had no chance in overthrowing Amon let alone the entirety of the Equalist faction; he could perhaps put up a decent fight, and injure Amon critically, but Mako knew that he would most likely be dead before Amon. And that of course was unacceptable.

Mako held his head in his hands, his fingers tangled in his dark locks; his jaw was clenched and a scowl was visible. It was almost time… Amon would undoubtedly have him escorted to have their little 'chat', and then Mako knew his own body and bending would be out of his control; Amon still being very much the incredible blood bender he had been the night of Mako's capture.

Standing up abruptly, Mako began to pace around the room in an irritated manner. There had to be some way out of this. He knew the only other possible matter that Amon could possibly wish to discuss with him was that he would force Mako to use his bending in order to capture the Avatar. He knew this was still very much a possiblity, he had known from the very day he'd been captured that he could be used as bait, to lure Korra into the Equalist's grasp, but of course he would do, and had done, everything in what little power he had to prevent this from happening. If there was one thing that bothered Mako more than anything else, it was being used against those he loved. He had to think of a way to get out of this situation without getting killed or having Korra captured. He refused to allow either to happen.

'_Think_!' he reprimanded himself, his fists clenching and unclenching behind his back as he paced back and forth. There must be some way of preventing either situations; there must be a way out—a way that would save Korra.

He paused and looked at his hands, flexing them slightly. There had to be a way… He closed his eyes, going over in his head why exactly Amon had kept him alive this long and what he needed him for. There were only a couple things, come to think of it. Amon wanted him because of his connection to the Avatar…aside from his fire bending skills, there was no real point in keeping him alive.

Slowly sinking to his knees on the concrete floor, he closed his eyes and sighed. The only thing he could think of allowing, was _unthinkable_. If he did, there was a good chance he would never be able to be forgiven. He could probably break his own bones if he needed, but that would only prevent Amon from temporarily baiting Korra with him. Mako grumbled to himself, pacing again, trying to think of alternative ways of escaping, but only drew up blanks.

He thought again to his first choice of action… it was so risky. To live, free of Amon and the Equalists but never be forgiven by Korra or his brother, or to be used as bargaining chip against Korra, only to have Amon take away her bending, or kill her. Either way was a no-win situation. He thought about it some more, his mind growing ever anxious as the weight of the situation crushed him. He had to make his decision, quickly.

He turned over his only other option in his head… There was always a slim possibility that he could live a fulfilling life as a non-bender…but he could see no way of ever being completely 'whole' again. He knew that if he were to do it, it had to be in a way so damaging that not even Katara could fix it. Amon could certainly help him with that.

No sooner had Mako made decision he heard it, faintly at first, but unmistakable—there were footsteps in the hall, and they were coming this way. He glanced sharply over his shoulder, then down at his hands. His heart began pounding in his chest, his brow and hands breaking into a sweat; he bit into his lip fiercely, tasting blood. His hands burst into small, contained flames, the footsteps getting louder still. He stared at the flames that were his own in his hands, as if to etch the look and feel of them into his deepest memory, his hands shaking all the while.

The footsteps were outside his door now and had stopped. He heard the voice of one of Amon's multitude of Equalist lackeys ordering the guards to open the door. There was a clinking of keys. The doorknob turning, and then he heard the slight creak of the door being opened.

With a determined resolve, Mako diminished the flames in his hands, perhaps for the last time, and allowed himself to be led to Amon. Upon arrival to the room where Amon awaited him, Mako was pinched in the side of his neck, effectively rendering him unconscious. The last thing Mako was aware of before losing consciousness was the slight sensation of pain racking his body as Amon stood before him, his hand placed on Mako's forehead. Shortly after, everything faded to black.

* * *

Well, that's the first chapter done. Let me know what you think of this new, much more morbid, fanfic!


	2. Chapter 2

Fade to Black; Chapter One Part Two

* * *

"You've been doing me proud recently, Korra," Beifong praised the young Avatar as she stood opposite her, "You've really come a long way since we first met. I feel I should apologise for how I treated you when we first met."

"Where is this coming from, you're not going soft on me now are you, Chief?" Korra shook her head, letting out a breathy laugh, "It doesn't really suit you."

Beifong smirked slightly, standing up from her seat and putting her hand on the shoulder of the young woman before her. Korra smirked back.

"I mean it Korra," Beifong went on, "After the council meeting today, wait for me and I'll treat you to lunch."

Korra really laughed now, "Oh, this is too weird. Beifong, while I appreciate the offer, I already have plans." In reality, she just felt like being alone.

"That's a pity," Beifong stated, before turning to exit the room, "You deserve a break every now and then Korra, even I can't deny you that. Come now, let's go down to the meeting room before the other members arrive."

The way that she stated it, Korra knew that she would be unable to argue further. She smiled slightly at Lin's retreating back—Lin was a serious person and a smile was a rare thing to get out of her. Korra did feel proud that she had been praised by Lin, but that did not make her misery go away.

Slowly Korra followed behind the Chief of Police. Beifong was holding the elevator waiting for Korra and she quickly scampered over and entered, the doors closing behind her. Beifong began to make comments on the recent turmoil in the Earth Kingdom, even with the Queen in power.

"She makes others do her dirty work, extorting her own citizens for her stupid palaces and topiaries and then expects people to go along with it." Beifong was saying, "It's appalling, and reminds me somewhat of someone else I know..."

"Hm? Like who?" Lin's comment having piqued Korra's interest, though she was only half listening.

"No one of importance."

They chatted idly as they proceeded to the council chambers. She took in the room and people before her. When she was just about to take her seat, Korra felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Korra."

Turning her head to the sound of the voice, she was met with a concerned look from Lin Beifong, who was staring at her student in a perceptive manner, "Yes, Lin?"

"Tell me," she said, dropping her hand from Korra's shoulder, "why you are wearing black today."

It was not a question, it was an order; the tone stated that she could not refuse answering. Korra blinked for a moment, then opened her mouth, carefully choosing her words, "Well, it's nice to have a change of clothing every now and then. And the fact that my usual choice of attire gets dirty during training, I thought perhaps black would hide the grime a little more. Then at least I could walk around without looking disgraceful."

"I see," Beifong replied, sounding skeptical. "You just felt like wearing all black today so that you wouldn't get dirty, and since when has that mattered to you?"

"Well, I…"

"Korra," Beifong's voice was in a warning tone; Korra knew that the Chief of Police did not like to be lied to.

Looking down at her hands that she hadn't realised had begun to shake, Korra hung her head. She spoke quietly when she finally managed to open her mouth, having difficulty choking out the words, "It's been a year since my failed attempt to overthrow Amon and the Equalists. Today marks a year since Mako was captured… "

The words died on her mouth; unable to force them out, she did not even bother to try and speak further.

"I see…" Beifong swallowed, "You know, Korra, the chances of us being able to rescue him were reduced to almost zero as soon as he was captured. The chances of us being able to locate him, are even less. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but you must have realised this by now."

"I know," Korra murmured quietly, "But as long as there is breath left in my body, I will not give up on trying to find him."

"Korra," Beifong spoke sharply, "We have done everything we can to find him."

"Lin, of all the people I know, you are the one who I thought would never give up on Mako," she spoke quietly, "Isn't he like a son to you? Surely you have at least a shred of hope that we'll find him."

"A shred is a very small thing, Korra," Beifong replied tersely, "Mako's fate has been out of our hands for quite some time now. I suggest that you get your mourning over with quickly, so that you are able to focus on things more important than lost comrades."

Korra didn't respond. Despite Beifong telling her to do otherwise, she would not give up on Mako, nor what she ever forget about him; he was her first love, her last love, her _only _love. Not wanting to look Beifong at the moment, she wracked her mind to for things to talk about other than Mako. Korra could find nothing to say; her mind was so burdened. She found the silence awkward, even though it had only lasted a couple of seconds.

Mercifully, as if by some unknown force, Tenzin seemed to appear out of now where, brandishing a large stack of papers in the Chief of Police's face.

"Lin! Korra! I have _finally_ found the pair of you!" Tenzin reprimanded the women, clearly flustered. Korra looked up slightly at the middle aged man, who looked like he had combed the city over twice before finding the troublesome pair, "Why are you standing over here? We have a meeting to get through and all of this paperwork to sign!"

"Calm down Tenzin, I was going to get around to them…"

"Korra this is serious." Tenzin retorted in a frustrated manner.

Korra made her way over to her allocated seat at the council members table, sitting down with a heavy sigh. "Fine, fine! Just stop badgering me! Let's just get on with the meeting shall we?"

Beifong nodded mutely and took her seat next to a very agitated Tenzin.

Beifong's words had hit her painfully, and she knew in her heart she could never do what the woman asked. She could never give up on Mako…_ever_.

* * *

It was a very angry Lieutenant who was dragging him along the musty hall; that was all Mako could make out in his current haze. His entire body hurt like the fires of hell had entered them; only once before had he experienced this kind of pain, and that was the day that he had been captured by Amon and the Equalist faction.

Blood was running over his face and into his nose and mouth, he could taste and smell it distinctly. He was crying out in pain; he could hear himself yelling out, even though he was not consciously aware that he was actually doing so. He struggled slightly, his body burning, but he was too weak from loss of blood to put up a fight. He didn't know what would happen to him now, but he did not care, it had been his choice to allow Amon to take away his bending, and as it turns out, torture him. He could end up a dead man either way, but even as a nonbender, he could at least have a chance of survival.

There was a creak as the door to Amon's chamber opened, and Mako was dumped unceremoniously down on the ground, at what he assumed was at Amon's feet.

"Amon," the Lieutenant stated in an important tone, though Mako could hear a faint tremble in his voice. "I did what you asked."

There was a scuffling, and the rustle of clothes and Mako found his chin being nudged by someone's foot, in an investigative manner. Mako had his eyelids shut tight, as though the pain would dissipate by doing so. The foot dropped away then kicked his shoulder hard; Mako merely winced, as the pain was nothing compared to the burning of his body.

"You're a fool, Mako." came Amon's deep voice, near his head. The voice was low, but it dripped with anger and loathing, like poison from the fangs of a snake, "Did you really think that I would spare you?"

Keeping his mouth tightly shut, only emitting groans of pain, Mako did not reply, knowing that in order to live he had to play his cards carefully. He felt Amon rustle past him and over to the other side of him.

"Lieutenant," the voice was still deadly, "I asked you to punish him, not beat him within an inch of his life. Can he be healed?"

Someone, most likely the Lieutenant, kicked him over onto his back, and the warm breath he felt on his face suggested that someone was examining him. A hand grabbed his chin roughly and held his lolling head still. There was a pause, then the hand and breath receded, allowing Mako to curl up on the floor.

"I could heal his wounds, but he will never be able to bend again," came the Lieutenant's serious voice, a slightly nervous tone laced uncertainly into it.

There was a long pause, and the tension was laid so heavily in the room that it could have been cut with a kunai, "I see."

"What would you like me to do?" the Lieutenant asked as rustling fabric made its way away from Mako's injured form.

There was another long pause, "Make sure he is again, duly punished, and then dump his body in the woods."

"Would you like him killed?" the Lieutenant asked.

"It matters not, with the amount of blood he's lost, he will die soon," Amon replied, "Make sure his last moments are painful."

"Would you like his memory erased?"

Another pause, "In the unlikely event that he does survive, remove only the important parts."

"Yes, Amon," there was a rustle of fabric as the Lieutenant passed by Mako, then another rustle. The voice was projected in another direction as the Lieutenant spoke again, "You, take him back to his cell, I will be there shortly."

"As for you, Lieutenant," Amon's voice grew fainter as Mako was dimly aware of him being dragged away, "We have to discuss your carelessness in the manner of Mako getting injured in such a manner."

Mako could not make out the Lieutenant's response as his mind hazed, and he lost all consciousness.

* * *

Part Two of Chapter One. I feel it gives a little more clarity on the circumstances of both Mako and Korra and the situation in which they find themselves.


	3. Chapter 3

Fade to Black: Chapter Two

* * *

Let's stop for a break," Kai announced, as he held flopped down onto the ground.

"What, again?" Jinora exclaimed impatiently, sighing heavily, "This is the second time since we've completed our mission. We should rest emafter /emwe've informed the Council that we've done what we were supposed to!"

Kai cast a glance at her as he took out a steamed bun from the satchel Pema had given to him earlier that week. He leaned leisurely up against a tree, "There's no hurry, Jinora."

"Another steamed bun?" Jinora rolled her eyes despairingly, her shoulders sagged, "You know, you're going to get a stomach ache."

"Well, it didn't get in the way of our mission, did it?" Kai replied, a lazy grin on his face as he took a bite of bun.

"No, but I would assume informing the council of our success is more important that your constant need to eat," Jinora retorted, but only got a shrug from her crush. She groaned loudly and looked over at Lin Beifong, the leader of their current expedition, who had been silent during the ordeal, "Sorry..."

"It's okay, Jinora," Lin commented, jotting notes down in her leather bound note book, "Kai's right, we have a lot of time to get back, we don't need to be hasty."

Jinora narrowed her eyes in annoyance at Kai, who simply grinned back at her. Turning back to Lin before continuing, "I know that we have plenty of time before the cut off time of the mission my father tasked us with, but there's nothing wrong with reporting in early, right?"

Lin patted Jinora's shoulder in understanding, "We'll get going soon, so just take a break. You'll need all your energy for the trek back to Republic City."

Jinora turned away from Lin before groaning in increased frustration. All she wanted was to inform her father and the other council members that there were no issues with security on the outskirts of the city, "You know what, I'm going to go out and scout the area."

"Whatever for?" Kai piqued in, his mouth full of steamed bun, "Nobody's chasing us."

"I'm not putting the time of this break to waste, that's all," she retorted smugly. She leapt up to a branch in a tall tree before pausing and turning to her companions, "I'll astral project myself if anything happens to me."

"Like anything's going to happen," muttered Kai to himself, as Jinora left the vicinity.

* * *

Korra walked home after another long day of meetings at city hall. She had met Asami at lunchtime and spent the time chatting with her friend, asking how the lunch at Narook's had been the previous day. Apparently they had all had a wonderful time, even though Meelo ended up spilling his bowl of noodles all over the table. Korra had smiled then, that was your typical Meelo—so clumsy.

Asami had also said that it was too bad that Korra couldn't make it and expressed concerns over whether they were working her too hard with all those meetings. With a warm smile and a shake of the head Korra replied that the workload wasn't too bad, and also said that she would come for Narook's the next time they all went out. Truly she was touched by her friend's concern for her, and she felt a little guilty about using her Avatar duties as an excuse, seeing as she hadn't been kept late at all.

Tenzin had actually let her out early. Admittedly she hadn't had much of a breather—she'd been asked if she were able to spare some time to heal patients at the local hospital. Despite her fatigue, she had not gone home to rest, but rather had wandered around town the rest of the evening, letting her depression envelop her. She found herself wandering to places where she had strong memories of Mako—the probending area where they had first met, the park they had visited the night Bolin had gone missing and the gazebo where they'd shared their first, rather abrasive, kiss…

Despite her wanderings, she avoided Narook's, fearing that she may be spotted, and draw on unwanted company. Lost in thought, she found herself drawn to the lower end of town, where she had spent many a day and night with Mako and Bolin in their old apartment. In the year in which Mako had been gone, no new tenants had taken on the place. It was one of the only places in the city that had remained unchanged. Korra had heard, though she could not remember where, that the building was to be in the upcoming future. Looking up at the beautiful apartment building, she swore to herself that she would buy the house if need be; she would never let anyone else inhabit it—for that would confirm that Mako was gone. His memory forever erased from Republic City.

Gloom had clouded her eyes as she looked up at the traditional architecture; the weather over the past year and the time in which it had been uninhabited had taken its toll as the fine-looking construction was now falling into disrepair. Without even thinking about it, Korra had waited until nobody was paying attention to her before slipping quietly around the side of the building, to find a back entrance. The reason behind her desire to enter the empty apartment eluded even her, as she clambered through the overgrown garden and up onto the upper floor.

Eventually, with a piece of stiff wire, she managed to pick open the lock on the back door and enter the empty structure. There had been a thick layer of dust on everything, showing that the place had remained untouched, Bolin not having the emotional strength to pay his old home a visit. Having been such a long time since she was last inside the old apartment, Korra found herself drifting about the place, looking at the different things in the deserted rooms, but not laying a finger on anything.

It wasn't until that she found an old broom in the corner of the kitchen that she laid hands on any of Mako's belongings. Grabbing it slowly, she had begun to sweep out the thick layer of dusk from the kitchen.

'_For when he comes back'_, she had told herself silently, not knowing when or even if, he would return.

It was the broom that had started it—sweeping the kitchen had soon become sweeping out the entire apartment, and when she found an old rag hanging on the lip of a bucket, she proceeded to dust every shelf and object she found. When that task was finished, she washed all the dishes of dust, and cleaned out the cupboards, getting rid of the food that had long since spoiled and sorted the non-perishables into canned and packaged groups. After that, she came across the dusty sheets in the small linen press and promptly washed them all, even going as far as to remake the beds.

After the entire apartment had been cleaned, Korra hauled herself home and collapsed into her bed, exhausted. She had done it: she had cleaned the entire apartment. And it wasn't until she had fallen asleep, that she realised she had done the enormous chore for no one.

* * *

Jinora glided through the air, making a rough perimeter around the area where she had left her two comrades. In all honesty, she couldn't believe Kai sometimes—sure they had completed their mission, but that gave them no reason to wander lazily back to Republic City, taking the time to smell the flowers along the way. Sometimes she really wondered how serious he was about becoming an air bender.

Alighting neatly on a sturdy branch that was several feet above the ground, Jinora surveyed the area. There was absolutely nothing to hint that there was a remote possibility that they'd be attacked by anything. Looking about she wondered dimly why she was even bothering—the setting was completely off for an attack, what with the sun shining brightly overhead, and the birds twittering cheerfully. Two blue jays had even fluttered by her while she scouted for an enemy that clearly didn't exist.

This was ridiculous; they should have just kept on going, Kai's steamed bun addiction or no.

Inhaling deeply in order to let out a heavy sigh, Jinora caught the fragrances that hung in the air. There was a heavy scent of wildflowers, mixed with a splash of fresh green grass, containing the smell of new leaves on the trees. She paused in the middle of her sigh and simply smiled; how she enjoyed the season of spring.

About to leap into the air again, she halted briefly…they were still on break, and there was time left—there really was no point in continuing scouting, so she might as well do what Lin had suggested she do: relax. If she had been made team leader, this never would have happened. Looking about the area again with her hazel orbs, she made sure they were not in any danger—though it was already obvious they weren't—before resting down on the branch, her legs dangling. She decided to let herself be pampered by the break, though she would never hear the end of it if she let Kai find out.

Closing her eyes and focusing, her sense of smell became enhanced, as she let the delicate scents wash over her like a perfume. It was the smell of spring and she marveled at the acuteness at which she could distinguish the smells. She was even able to pick out the names of a few individual scents, based on the fragrances she smelled, and probably would have been able to name more if she had known what the flowers look like.

The cool breeze shifted slightly in direction and a new wave of smells washed over Jinora—the smell of budding flowers, a touch of moist earth, and faintly, the unmistakable smell of a flowering fire lily bush. Slowly, a new odour wove its way into her nose—an unpleasant, metallic-like odour. It was so sharp in comparison to the other smells that she wondered why she had not noticed it earlier. A deep frown creased her brow, her hazel eyes flying open. She knew that smell only too well. It was the scent of blood.

* * *

Korra's nights after the conversation with Lin had been filled with nightmares from her botched attempt at overthrowing the Equalist faction; last night had been no different. The next day, thankfully, had been entirely uneventful, allowing her tiredness not to interfere with any serious task that she may have needed to tackle. Korra had decided to spend her time at the hospital and of the patients that had come in that day to be seen, Korra had only healed the scraped knee of a little boy, dealt with a sprained ankle and helped an old lady who had fallen and fractured her hip. As Korra trudged home from the hospital she hardly felt tired at all.

The sky wasn't even dark as she left the hospital—one of the nurses had told her to go home early again, and get some rest, as the hospital wanted Korra available and fully energised in case there was anything nasty that happened to crop up. Korra had debated with herself whether to return to Mako's apartment, but decided against it. The place was clean; there was nothing for her to do there.

Dragging her feet, Korra wandered home, going mostly on autopilot; as there was nothing to do, there was nothing to keep Korra's thoughts from becoming a little morbid. That was where she was now, in the deepest recesses of her mind, despairing over the loss of Mako.

"Is that you, Uh-Vatar?"

Korra looked up with a small smile on her face, ready to fool whoever was greeting her into thinking that she was not as miserable as she felt, but her face quickly fell again as she found out the caller of her name. It was Tahno, standing outside a clothes store, taking down the display of the season's latest fashion accessories that were displayed outside the door.

"What do you want, Tahno?" she asked heavily, not in the mood for arguing.

Tahno gave a smirk, "Sorry, Uh-Vatar, didn't know I wasn't allowed to ask what was getting you down."

Korra sighed and rubbed her temples, a slight headache coming on, "It's nothing…nothing I'd expect _you _to remember anyway."

Tahno rested his hands on his hips and frowned a little, "Care to share?"

"Not really," was Korra's blunt reply before she started walking again.

"I'm betting it has something to do with why you're wearing black," Tahno remarked snidely, as Korra drew level with him, "Who died?"

Korra came to an abrupt stop, her feet suddenly refusing to move. Wisps of her chocolate coloured hair dangled in front of her turquoise eyes, hiding the tears that were forming as her head was hung dolefully.

"Nobody died," Korra whispered quietly, refusing to look at Tahno, "Just please leave me alone today."

Stepping nimbly in front of Korra with his arms stretched wide, Tahno blocked the path as Korra took a step forward. "Tell me, Korra."

Again, like Lin's tone, it was an order, not a request, spoken in a way that could not be argued against. With a quiet exhalation, Korra replied quietly, "It's been a year to the day, as of three days ago, that Mako was captured."

Tahno, whose arms were still stretched out wide, slowly dropped them to the side, looking worriedly at the girl whom he had once considered his rival.

"That means that could anything…" Korra continued without being asked to do so, "He could have been tortured, have had his bending taken away…"

A tear fell off the end of her nose and landed with a quiet drip on the ground. Hugging her black covered arms, she tried to let the midnight folds encompass her—make her disappear.

"I need to go home, Tahno," she said shakily, "I need my strength for tomorrow, you know?"

Tahno did not even raise a finger to stop Korra as she passed by him, but stared after her, not sure what to do, if there _was_ something he could do. Quietly and quickly Korra headed up the street, slipping past her mother in the kitchen unnoticed, and up the stairs to her bedroom. Tahno would probably cause her a world of trouble now that she had revealed the reason behind her mourning, but Korra simply failed to care.

Gingerly she picked up the photo frame that held the picture of Team Avatar. It was the only picture she had of him, the only reminder of a happy time long past. She hugged the photo close to her heart, and lay down on the bed, letting the tears run silently down her face.

* * *

Jinora had quickly leapt into the air at the smell of the blood, and made her way across the terrain quickly, following the scent as quickly as she could before the wind changed directions. The energy that she had concentrated in her nose was dismissed as the smell became overwhelming—now, even without her enhanced senses, she could find the odour distinctly in the air, and soon a small thin trail of blood could be seen on the forest floor.

Leaping from branch to branch she followed it, noting how it was straight in direction, like something had dragged the injured being. The straight trail then ended in a pool of blood, and Jinora dropped down to the ground, touching the red liquid experimentally. It was sticky and partially dried; whatever had been there had only been there a few hours earlier. The trail of blood then continued through the forest, except it was now splattered in a wavering line. Whatever had been bleeding had either escaped, or had been left to die and had struggled onward regardless.

Despite the age of the blood, and the amount lost, there was still a small chance that whatever it was, or whoever it was, was still alive somewhere. Of course it could be the blood of an injured animal, but it was good just to be sure—it might save someone's life.

Quickly, she ran after the trail of blood, following it for a while on the forest floor; it was thinner than before, like some of the bleeding had stopped, and the blood only pooled where the victim had stopped to rest. Jinora jumped over a tree root, side stepped a branch, and almost tripped, as the forest seem to cut off abruptly before her into a clearing.

The trail of blood continued into the clearing, where Jinora saw it disappear into the long grass. She looked about the clearing for anything that was potentially dangerous and marveled at the sight. A large, fully-grown fire lily bush grew in the middle of the field on the top of a smallish hill—this must have been the bush that she had caught the scent of earlier, before she smelt the blood.

Having decided that there was no immediate danger, Jinora crept forward, brushing aside the grasses, keeping an eye on the trail of blood. Whatever it was, despite the severe injuries it had suffered, had managed to haul itself up the hill. Jinora trudged up the side, and saw the path of blood disappear around the side of the fire lily bush, where it most likely continued down the other side of the hill.

She walked slowly up to the bush and allowed her hand to brush up against one of the red flowers. Peering around the bush, she jumped back in surprise—the trail of blood had ended, to reveal crumpled figure at its base. Jinora clutched at her beating heart—she had not expected there to be anything at all.

Throwing aside her fear, she quickly knelt down next to the figure. A boy—no, a young man—around his mid-late teens, perhaps even early twenties, was sprawled out at the in the middle of the bush. His dark hair was matted with blood, along with the clothing he wore. His chin was resting on his chest, and his longish hair covered his face. The left arm was broken and bent at a grotesque angle; both arms were covered with numerous cuts and burn marks and his clothing was torn to shreds. Some of the petals from the fire lily bush had drifted across in the breeze and landed on his unconscious form, creating a poetic and grotesque juxtaposition. Jinora felt pity in her heart—he was so young to die so soon.

A slight movement caught her eye, as she was about to leave, feeling grim from the sight—she thought she saw the young man's chest rise and fall faintly, like he was taking a shallow breath. Perhaps it was just his clothes fluttering in the wind, but nonetheless Jinora reached out to find a pulse at his neck. Much to her surprise and wonder, she found one, thumping weakly against her fingers—it was a miracle he was alive.

Taking a meditative stance, she used her astral projection to get through to her comrades, "Lin, Kai—there's something you should see."

"Gotcha, what's up?" came Kai's voice.

"Just come!" Jinora replied in a frustrated manner, "I'm northwest of your position by about a click. Look for me in the middle of a flowering fire lily bush."

"We'll be there soon," came Lin's voice.

Snapping out of her meditative state, Jinora turned and lifted the boy's right arm. Her healing abilities were limited at best, but at least she could bandage the wounds on his arms and legs while she waited. Maybe if the two of them did not come quickly she would set his arm in a sling. Taking out a small salve out of the pouch on her back, and opening her water bottle, she began to clean and dress his wounds. She wished Linand Kai would hurry—again, it was almost a miracle that the young man was alive after how far he dragged himself through the woods. But miracle or no, if she did not hurry to assist him, he could die regardless of her efforts.

A rustle came from behind her and Lin and Kai appeared at the young man's side, bending down to examine him.

"Glad you came," she said turning to them, "He's still alive. Kai, can you help me set his arm?"

Kai nodded dumbly as he took the boy's arm gently in his hands. He held the two parts of the arm in his hands before speaking, "What happened to him…?"

"I don't know, but regardless of who or what did this to him, if we don't act fast, he'll die. If we get a reaction from setting his arm then there's chance he might live, opposed to no reaction, which would mean he's a dead man."

Kai nodded as Jinora readied a long bandage while Lin found a branch to use as a splint. Kai turned the broken arm in his hands, bringing the two pieces together—Lin and Kai watched the young man anxiously for a reaction, and both breathed a sigh of relief as a painful groan came from the unconscious figure. His head lolled slightly to the side, and rested on his right shoulder, a fire lily petal drifted across and landed on his forehead. Jinora blinked at the state of his face.

A long gash ran across forehead, very near to his eyes, and the blood from that wound had run down his face and dried. There were burns and cuts on his forehead and cheeks, and they looked dirty and painful. Not having payed much attention to the mans physical appearance up until now, Jinora took the time to take in the young mans face. He was very handsome, a sharp jawline and, despite the blood and dirt currently streaked across his skin, Jinora could tell the young mans complexion was unblemished. The one thing Jinora did note that was quite unusual were the young mans eyesbrows. _His eyebrows_. Jinora's eyes widened as the boy's identity became apparent to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Lin beat her to it.

"Spirits," she remarked quietly in shock, "It's Mako."

* * *

It was 1:00 a.m. when Korra's mother shook her hastily awake. Sitting up groggily, she murmured an incoherent question as she winced at her sore back. The position she had fallen asleep in had been very uncomfortable and as a result she was stiff and sore all over. Her fingers had also evidently stiffened as well as she had trouble prying them off the frame that she was still clutching in her arms. When she set the photo aside, she faced her patient mother, who was standing worriedly above her.

"What's the matter?" Korra asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's the people from the hospital," her mother said in a serious tone, "They were given specific instructions to come and bring you to the hospital. Apparently an emergency case just arrived and Katara is there and requires your assistance."

In an instant Korra was awake and running down the stairs, taking three at a time. Her mother was yelling something after her from the top of the stairs as Korra pulled on her fur pelt.

"They said they wouldn't have come if Katara hadn't specifically requested—" her mother was abruptly cut off as Korra slammed the door behind her. She did not stop moving as she exited, but ran as quickly as she could in the direction of the hospital. No later than five minutes later, Korra burst through the entrance to the hospital, where she was met by Aang and Katara's daughter, Kya.

"What's the situation?" Korra asked, not wanting to waste any times on explanations. If it was emergency enough to call her awake at night like this, she could not afford to waste any time. She had only been called out twice before in the previous year, and she knew she had to be ready the instant they called. She had understood this before she became a fully-fledged healer—she had to be able to sacrifice her own well being for the sake of someone else. That went without saying.

"I don't know," Kya replied uncertainly, "I was just told to get you. I was not informed on current events. I do believe it has to do with the group of people that came in a few minutes ago."

"Who?" Korra asked as they began to run up the hospital's many steps.

"Chief Beifong, Kai and Jinora," replied Kya, as Korra ran for the stairs, ignoring the slow elevator, "Second floor, room two hundred twenty one!"

Korra practically flew up the stairs and down the hall, rushing noisily into the designated room as she flung the doors wide. '_Oh Spirits, please don't be Jinora'_. The sight before her had her worried—not only was Katara bent over the patient in deep concentration, but she was surrounded by advanced healers, who Korra had become acquainted with during her time as a healer, were all working on the patient too. As soon as Korra entered, Katara looked up at her.

"Korra, help me heal the wounds on his legs," one of the healers barked at her—Katara was in deep concentration, and Korra realised that she was not to be interrupted.

'His_ legs? Is it Kai?_

Quickly she dashed over to Katara's side and began peeling away the makeshift bandages that had been applied, gasping at the sight. There were deep gashes and dangerous burns all along the left leg, and glancing over at the work that the Kya, who had entered the room shortly after herself, was now doing. The young mans other leg appeared in the same condition. Without a second thought, Korra began to bend the spirit water to form in her hands, guiding it and controlling it with a slight twist that she had added as her own technique. The cuts and burns were easy enough to heal, but the patient seemed near death.

She glanced up towards the head and torso of the figure for a brief moment, seeing how severe the rest of the wounds were. The other healers were working on repairing a broken arm, while Katara held both hands extended over the patient's head. Her long sleeves dangled down, making it impossible for Korra to see the face.

'_If it's not Kai…Who is it?'_

Turning her attention back to her task, she focused on restoring the wounds. The quick glance she had taken also revealed a bag of blood hanging near the head of the bed, dripping the red fluid into the patient's veins. Korra knew if she could heal the wounds, the patient would lose less blood.

Slowly she moved her hands up the leg, healing each wound with care, being sure that there was not a scar left on the patient's body. When she reached the knee, the other healers, who had just finished mending the broken arm, took over. Korra took a split second breather before taking the newly mended arm, ridding it of the cuts and burns.

Hours dragged by, but to the apprehensive young Avatar, it seemed to take years. Sweat beaded her brow, but she remained committed to her task—she felt that if she were able to heal as many people as she could, become stronger as a healer, then perhaps one day she would be as well recognised as a healer as her Master, Katara. She had to save this young man, even if she did not know who he was, because each life saved strengthened her, and for each life lost, she strove harder the next time.

The group of healers, including herself and Kya, worked tirelessly over the young man and were eventually finished healing his body. Only Katara remained, her energy focused on the young man's head.

Korra left the bedside, knowing there was nothing more she could do to help. Splashing cold water on her face, she knew that only Katara could fix whatever wounds remained. Kya came and stood beside Korra as they watched the healing master hard at work.

"What happened?" Korra asked, rubbing her face dry.

"I'm not sure," Kya murmured quietly, "But Lin team came in with him in that terrible state—barely alive. Apparently they found him on the way back from their mission."

Korra nodded and hoped that whoever the young man was, that he would be okay.

"Come," Kya said, beckoning Korra to follow, "We shouldn't disturb my mother right now. There's nothing more we can do to help anyway, so we had best leave her in peace."

Korra nodded numbly as she followed Kya from the small room, feeling utterly and completely exhausted.


	4. Chapter 4

Fade to Black: Chapter Three

* * *

It wasn't until late the next morning that Korra pushed open the doors to the local hospital, still feeling drained from the night before. She dragged her feet through the entrance, not really wanting to work that day.

"Hey, Korra," Kya greeted as she approached the young Avatar, "My mother is waiting for you in the office upstairs."

"Hey, Kya," Korra yawned, the lack of sleep not helping her be rid of her exhaustion.

"I hope you slept well," Kya said, leading Korra along to the elevator, clutching a stack of papers close to her chest, "I can't imagine that you had an easy time of it after last night. I'm amazed that you could remain so calm during the procedure."

Following Kya as they entered the elevator, Korra was too tired to even ask what Kya was talking about. The words themselves made sense, but she could not see how they applied to her. She had seen people in worse condition than the young man the previous night—she had seen people die as she continued to heal them, struggling to keep them alive even though she knew it was futile. Katara had always said that she had to recognise when to give up, but Korra could not bear the thought of quitting. That aside, it was needless to say that she was not squeamish around blood or injuries, and she wondered why Kya was so proud of her all of a sudden.

"I know that if it had been me in your position, I wouldn't be able to handle it," she said as she continued as the elevator rumbled slowly upward, "My mother is filling out the paperwork in the office down the hall. Please come with me."

Korra, who had opened her mouth to ask what Kya was going on about, shut it as the elevator doors opened and she was required to match the young woman's brisk pace as they marched down the white walled hallway.

* * *

The moment he woke, he was met with a feeling of fogginess. Understandably, Mako had been placed under heavy sedation and despite the fact that he knew that he would not wake to anything else; it still took him a little time to register what had happened to him. He first noticed the dull throbbing in his body, which he supposed was an improvement to the burning pain he had felt just days prior. His left arm was tingling slightly, but it was no longer hurting. Dimly he tried to remember what happened, and where he was.

He remembered the pain clearly—he was unsure of how he had been tortured, but he knew that he had been put under the method by some strange techniques he had never heard of. Whatever it had been, he felt lucky that he had even survived it, as it had been so excruciating. After that, he could dimly remember being carried, more like dragged, into the forest and left out there to die. The memories leading up to that event and the memories following were a little hazy, but he recalled the fire lily bush—the smell had been pungent, seeming like a haven amidst all the agony he felt, and lying in the foliage, he had prepared himself to die. Much to his dismay he found himself alive, lying in a foreign location, having no recollection of how he got there or why he had been rescued.

The pungent aroma that was in the air was far from pleasant, but it was enough for him to realise he was most likely in a hospital, or some other medical facility, which would account for the sudden disappearance of his wounds. But while the information was somewhat helpful, it still did not help him understand where the medical facility was, or even what part of the United Republic he was in.

Mako sat up slowly, trying to gather information from what he knew of the surrounding area, his vision still blurry and his head still groggy due to the sedative drugs. He dimly recognised the room he was currently in, knowing it was a room of one of Republic City's smaller, and more private, local hospitals. Lying back down in the bed Mako allowed his current situation to sink in, really take it—He'd never, not for a day, considered that he would end up back here, not unless by some kind of miracle, which clearly his rescue and revival had been.

Mako closed his weary eyes and listened carefully—he would have to wait until someone came and checked on him before he could get some answers. He lay quietly, knowing his expression probably looked grim, but there was little he could do about his situation—the only thing he could do was wait.

* * *

Korra and Kya flung open the doors to the small room where Katara was awaiting them patiently. The room in question was a small lounge, which the hospital staff and healers used during their scheduled breaks—Korra had only been there a couple times, because normally she was too busy to take it easy. When they entered, Katara could be seen sitting on one of the lounges, bent over some paperwork that she had spread out on a coffee table.

"Ah, Korra," Katara looked up from the form she was filling out in front of her, taking a sip of tea as she did so.

Katara indicated that Korra should take a seat, while Kya stood attentively next to the doorway. Trying not to yawn, Korra made her way over and sat down comfortably on the lounge across from Katara, uttering a quick "good morning".

"You must have been exhausted," Katara remarked, looking at Korra's disheveled appearance. Her black clothes may have made her appear slightly more poised, but it also accented Korra's fatigue, "I had expected that you would have refused to leave last night, or at least shown up at the crack of dawn this morning."

Korra raised an eyebrow and inquired, "Katara, why on earth would I want to stay _here_ the entire night? Hospitals aren't exactly my favourite place to be, you know."

Katara looked over at Korra with an astonished look on her face, "I thought you would have been worried about him."

"About the patient last night?" Korra asked quizzically, peering at her healing mentor, "Is there any particular reason why I would be worried about him?"

Katara and Kya looked at each other, before looking back to Korra. "Didn't you recognise who we were healing last night?" Katara sounded surprised.

A little seed of worry sprouted somewhere in her dim and tired mind, her heart beginning to pound against her chest. Had it been someone she knew? What if it had been her father? Or her younger cousin, and she hadn't realized? Attentiveness began to return as she spoke her response.

"No…the sleeves of your coat blocked my view of his face," she said, a frown creasing her weary brow.

Katara put down her cup of tea then proceeded to put her fingertips together in a thoughtful manner. "So all this time you didn't know who—? No wonder you left and slept in! Oh well, it probably was for the better that you didn't know…you probably would have been unable to rest otherwise."

"Yeah well, as you can probably make out from my current appearance, I didn't really get much rest as it is." Korra bit her lip nervously, her drowsiness quickly fading, "Are you going to tell me who was unconscious and knocking on deaths door last night?"

A deep sigh. "Perhaps you had better sit down—" Katara began to say.

"Yeah… I'm already sitting down, Katara," Korra interrupted.

"Oh, right…well…" the healer took another sip of her tea, "This may come as a shock to you, Korra, but the young man we were working so hard to keep alive last night…was Mako."

Korra suddenly leapt to her feet, her turquoise eyes wide, her throat going dry. Any grogginess still left was instantly evaporated, "_Was_?"

_"Is!"_ Katara corrected hurried as she saw the look of horror on Korra's face, "Spirits, Korra, we didn't work so hard only to let him d—Kya!"

Korra had made a dash for the door, but as the aging healer called out to her daughter, Kya stepped in front of her and blocked her path. Korra skidded to a halt and glared at Kya, then turned her head to look at Katara, her eyes taking on a pleading look.

"Let me pass," she begged through the tears that threatened to escape her, her voice almost inaudible, "Please, let me go and see him!"

"Sit down, Korra," Katara motioned for the young Avatar to do so.

"Katara..."

"Korra." Katara's voice was harsher now, a warning tone concealed in the edge of her intonation.

Reluctantly, and completely against her will, Korra trudged back to the lounge and plopped herself onto it, her head hanging in her hands. "Why can't I see him?" she whispered.

"Oh, you can," Katara replied patiently, lacing her fingers together and resting them in her lap, "I just have a couple of important things I need to discuss with before hand It won't take long."

"Like what?" Korra raised her head. Katara could see the tears beginning to gather in Korra's eyes.

"Korra, you firstly have to realise that the Mako lying in that bed on the second floor may not be the Mako that you knew just a year ago," Katara replied with admirable patience, "Amon could have done any number of things to him, meaning his current mental state could be unstable; though the preliminary tests that we ran when he was unconscious seem to suggest otherwise. I am concerned for your well fare, that is all Korra." Katara gave a moment for Korra to process this before continuing, "The second matter that I wish to discuss with you is the extent of Mako's injuries. Mako has suffered a major injury to both his arms and hands, which I expect you could not see from your angle."

Korra was suddenly anxious, "What are you implying, Katara?"

"I managed to clean up and heal most of it, and there should be no scars left from the incident, however…" Katara unlaced her fingers from where they lay in her lap, and rested them on her knees, bending over and looking at Korra directly before saying, "Korra…Mako has lost his bending."

There was a very long, silent pause. A small trembling began to tingle in Korra's fingers, and then her arms started to shake. Her voice cracked when she said, "Is there nothing you can do to heal him?"

Katara shook her head slowly from side to side in an apologetic and melancholy manner, "Nothing with my healing abilities. I wish I could help him, but there is nothing more I can do for him."

"Will he ever be able to bend again?"

"Perhaps if you yourself tried restoring his bending, then yes; Mako may regain his bending ability, but it hasn't always worked, has it Korra?" was her mentor's grim response.

_"May_ regain his bending?" Korra echoed faintly, "What are his chances?"

"We're talking less than four percent," Katara replied, "His injuries were beyond anything I've ever dealt with before."

Korra fell silent, staring at her hands lying in her lap. What had happened to Mako? Who had done this to him? How could someone as skilled as he was lose his bending? Sadness washed over her as she empathised with him, so much that it hurt her to think of the suffering he must have gone through, the frustration of having his bending taken from him.

"Lastly there is the matter of him needing to adjust to his current state," Katara said, turning and looking out the window, "it will be difficult for him to accept that he may never bend again. I believe he could benefit from being around someone who has been in the same situation that he now finds himself in."

"Meaning?" Korra asked, frowning slightly. "I mean, is there any particular reason why you are brining these things to my attention?" Korra asked wearily, desperately wanting to go and see Mako.

"Yes. It goes without me saying that I would like you, Korra, to be there during Mako's recuperation," Katara explained, looking over at her Korra passively, "I also want you to be the one to interrogate him on any information he has on Amon."

Korra looked at her mentor in an aghast manner, "What?! Why me? Shouldn't Lin be the one to ask him those things? And… so soon? He's only just been bought back."

"Don't worry—the interrogation will be torture-free, he has suffered enough torture already," Katara replied, waving her hand dismissively before Korra could question Katara's sense of humor, "What I was hoping, was a state of mental interrogation—in which you will find out what happened to him, afterwards he will be submitted to further questioning by someone else, Lin most likely. But at the moment, you know Mako better than anyone in this city, more so than even his own brother, and while you haven't seen him in a long time, there may be aspects, goals and priorities that haven't changed over time. You can use those against him."

"Katara, I will never use anything that Mako tells me, against him. But what I don't understand is why you're asking me to do this. Mako knows me," Korra replied, "Won't he realise who I am?"

"I don't know, Korra," Katara replied, "He has seen Kya and myself, briefly before the sedative drugs pulled him under, and has recognised the both of us, however he has not once asked after you. When I said the preliminary tests that we had run came back clear, I told you the truth, but we are yet to run any tests linking to his memory and his ability to recognise people or places."

Korra closed her tired eyes. All of the information that she'd received in the last ten minutes being too much for her currently weary mind to process. The one thing she was able to process was the fact that Mako may no longer recognise let alone remember her. She felt her world crumbling around her. Mako, the one person who knew Korra perhaps better than she knew herself may be gone forever.

After a moment Korra spoke, "I will do it," she resigned with a profound sigh.

"That's a good girl," Katara praised with a wrinkled smile, taking a sip of her tea, which had been forgotten for the duration of their conversation.

"Katara—"

Katara's smile faded slightly, and lowered the tea from her lips, "Hm?"

"I want to be the _only_ one who rehabilitates Mako."

There was a drawn out silence and Korra stared at Katara with fierce determination, letting her know that she would not hear otherwise. The silence was broken by the older woman's heavy sigh.

"It will not be easy."

"I realise that, but I owe this to him."

Katara closed her eyes before replying in a resigning tone. "Very well then," she rubbed her temples slowly.

Korra set her jaw, "Take me to see Mako. Now."

* * *

It was only an hour since Mako had woken up and _finally_ ,after what seemed like an eternity, someone came to check on his condition. The door slid open noisily and then was shut with the same amount of racket. Soft, tentative footsteps approached, and there was a small screech on the floor as a chair was drawn forth. The person could be heard settling down on the chair and there was a slight rustling of papers. After a moment, the visitor cleared their throat and Mako determined that the owner of the voice was female, most likely a healer of some sort.

Mako willed his eyes to open, and spotted a woman he recognised, sitting in a chair on the right side of his hospital bed. "Katara?" Mako struggled to get out, coughing slightly at the effort, "Is that really you?"

"Yes, Mako. It's good to see you." Katara replied, her voice sounding vaguely concerned at the difficulty he had at speaking.

"I am in Republic City, aren't I?" he asked, having less difficulty this time.

"Yes, Mako. You're home." Katara answered his question.

"_Home_," he sighed almost inaudibly, "It's been a while…"

There was a short pause, then a weighty sigh, "Mako, I realise you're still recovering from your injuries, that you no doubt know were quite grave, but I wish to start your rehabilitation as soon as possible."

He gave a small nod in reply, "I understand. When will we begin?"

The answer he received was a soft smile, which somewhat confused him. Katara settled his confusion by saying, "Before we begin, there's someone waiting outside whom I believe will be essential in your rehabilitation."

Mako nodded again, his consciousness struggling to stay in control against the sedative drugs still flowing through his system.

"You can come in," Katara turned in her seat, directing her voice to the sliding door.

Mako directed his gaze to the sliding door, genuinely curious as to who was waiting on the other side. Again, the door slid open noisily and then was shut with the same amount of racket, and a woman of similar colouring to Katara walked in. Her eyes were directed to the floor, and it seemed to Mako as though she was avoiding lifting her head and meeting his gaze. Some kind of warning bell went off in Mako's head as his eyes followed the young woman's every move. She looked so startlingly familiar that his heart seemed to ache at the sight of her; the only problem was, Mako couldn't figure out why.

After a moment of tense silence Katara introduced the young woman who was now standing beside her, still refusing to look up into Mako's face. "This is Korra. She will be responsible for your rehabilitation, and hopefully, full recovery."

For the first time since she had entered the hospital room, the young woman, who Mako noted was uniquely beautiful with her mocha coloured skin and chocolate coloured locks, lifted her face to meet his amber gaze. Mako's heart stopped when her eyes met his own. Amber was reflected in turquoise, and turquoise was reflected in amber as the two took each other in. Mako almost choked as he recognised the young woman that stood before him.

"K-Korra?"

"Hey, Mako" came the simple reply.

It was a basic answer, but the words caused Mako to stiffen slightly, his stomach clenching unpleasantly. Her voice was so strained and she sounded _so_ tired.

"How are you feeling?" she continued.

Mako suddenly felt exceedingly dizzy and he wasn't sure whether it was due to the drugs flowing through his veins or because of the sudden onslaught of images that were flashing through his mind. Images of Amon and his loyal Lieutenant, of himself and his gaunt features reflected in a mirror and of the scorch marks on his skin from the weapon of choice that the Equalists use were among the few that stood out. He doubled over in his bed, squeezing his eyes shut in an effort to shut off the flow of images, no, _memories_, of the most unpleasant kind. Before he realised what he was doing, he had leapt out of the bed, across the room to where Korra stood, and clasped his hands around her throat.

Tightening his hands around her neck he shouted, "It's you! It's because of you that Amon captured me! It's because of you that I had my bending taken! It's all because of you! You…you…"

Korra's turquoise eyes widened in shock, not only at Mako's actions but at his words. She dug her nails into his thin forearms, trying desperately to pry his hands away from her neck, however to no avail. Her eyes held his, and she could tell that he was no longer aware of what he was doing, his amber orbs having clouded over. Despite her best efforts, and her strength, she could not remove his hands from her jugular, her breaths becoming ragged and vision blurring.

"M-Mako…"

"Mako," Katara had her hands firmly secured around Mako's arms, having called out for help during the kerfuffle, "Let her go. You don't want to do this." Her voice was patient and kind, though not entirely void of concern. "It's true that Korra was there the day you were captured, but it's not her fault. Korra doesn't want to hurt you, she wants to help you."

Mako's grip around Korra's neck finally loosened. Katara took his hands in her own and let him back to the bed, allowing Korra to regain her breath.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Unable to handle the situation any longer, Korra shook her head and quickly exited the room, leaving Katara with a very bewildered and spaced out Mako, whose eyes slid closed as Katara administered a sedative into his arm.

Outside the room, Korra walked slowly to the elevator, and it wasn't until the doors had shut that she burst into tears.

* * *

Before anyone asks, yes, this chapter is somewhat inspired by the last book of the Hunger Games series; MockingJay. As always, review and let me know what you think. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

Fade to Black: Chapter Four

* * *

"You did well, Korra," Katara said comfortingly as she patted the distraught Avatar on the back, "He didn't know what he was doing, you realise that, don't you?"

Korra inhaled with a shudder; her sobs had made her breathing pattern irregular, "Y-yes, I mean, N-no he didn't realise a-at all. I-I feel terrible."

"I know nothing I say now will make you feel any better, but you must understand that Mako is extremely sorry for his actions," Katara reminded her gently, "He's going to need you, more than anyone, Korra."

Korra nodded, her thoughts swirling.

"Don't worry, Korra," Katara said comfortingly, "We are going to do everything we can for Mako."

Korra took a deep breath and calmed herself; this was no time for her to be moping around. Clutching her hands on the arms of the chair she was sitting in, Korra stood up slowly.

"We're going back to see him now, right?" she asked, trying to get control over herself again, "I think I'm ready to go now."

Katara nodded slowly, "Alright then, we're going now. Kya, please clean up the papers here for me and go and grab my medical books on bending and bring them back here."

"Okay," Kya gave a curt nod.

"Come, Korra," Katara said as she left the room, her back straight, her face serious.

Quickly Korra scampered after her, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as they waited for the elevator. It hurt her to see Mako in such reduced circumstances, and she knew it must be difficult for him; Mako had always been independent and self sufficient, extremely intelligent, he relied heavily on his ability to quickly assess a situation. Now, everything that he was and had ever been, had been stripped away from him. Korra felt her heart go out to him, she would help him in any way that she could.

They stepped off the elevator and Korra took a deep breath, filling herself with calm. If she was going to help with Mako's rehabilitation, she needed to be strong for him—she couldn't waste time crying.

Katara led the way to the room, Korra following quietly behind, keeping her head held high, and her shoulders back. Katara paused at the door when they arrived in front of Mako's room and looked at Korra, who nodded in return. Katara opened the door and entered, the young Avatar only a step behind.

* * *

Mako had not moved at all since Korra had last seen him; he was currently comatose in what Korra could only imagine was a dreamless sleep. He looked so helpless lying in the bed, his clothes in tatters, his hair and skin still stained with blood; tubes of all different lengths, colours and sizes stuck out of every inch of his now gaunt flesh. Korra looked grimly at him, her fists clenching in determination.

"It looks as though he's still rather out of it, so I'll have ease off the sedatives and pain medication in order for him to wake up," Katara said, making her way over to his almost lifeless form.

Korra stood there, completely motionless, watching Katara as she fiddled with multiple different monitors, tubes and medical equipment until Mako began to rouse from his sleep.

"Take it easy Mako, can you try sitting up for me?" Katara ask as she helped Mako sit up in bed as he struggled to get his bearings, heaving himself up on weak arms. "That's the way. Is there anything either Korra or myself can get you?"

Mako glanced over to Korra, who had made no effort in getting closer while he'd awoken.

'_She's afraid of me…'_

"Mako?" Katara's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Just a glass of water." He answered after a moment.

"Korra."

Korra nodded, not needing further instruction from the healing master, and entered the small bathroom that was attached to the room Mako was currently residing in. She made her way to the small sink, grabbing a glass from the mirrored cabinet situated above it. She metal bent the tap to one side until the water started flowing and used her water bending to bend the water into the cup. In the time she was waiting for the glass to become full she took a moment to evaluate her current appearance in the mirror. Her usually iridescent turquoise eyes were dull and forlorn, her long chocolate hair messy, her skin somewhat sallow and her overall demeanor, depressed.

'_Great. It's been a year since he's seen me, and _this_ is what he's greeted with…' _

Korra sighed, turning off the tap and returning to the room where Katara and Mako were waiting for her. She made her way over to the hospital bed and passed Mako the glass of water, avoiding any physical contact.

"I have been telling Mako about his rehabilitation. He's ready to begin as soon as possible." Katara stated as Korra stood beside her.

"You are?" Korra directed her somewhat confused gaze to Mako, who simply stared back at her.

"I am," came his straightforward reply, "But you should know, there may be some things I can not help you with. Before I was tortured and left to die, Amon had parts of my memory erased in case I survived."

"I see," Katara replied in Korra's stead, "We shall see how much memory remains, but that will have to wait until you've regained your strength."

"Okay."

"To get right to the point, your injuries have not completely healed yet," Katara stated bluntly, "You will have to go through a daily healing process with a skilled healer, in this case that will be Korra, during that time you will also be working on rehabilitation. We have an offer of three choices of which type of rehabilitation you will work with. Korra, who will heal you will also help you become accustomed to that choice and eventually will leave when you regain your strength."

"What are the choices?" Mako asked passively, his facial expression unreadable.

"First choice is to have daily healing sessions with me," Katara told him patiently.

"I don't wish to take up all of your time, Katara," Mako answered quietly.

"The second option would be to train you and rehabilitate you in the south poll."

"I'm not really good with the cold, and I've only just returned to Republic City… I don't really want to leave. Not yet." Mako shook his head. The very thought of being in the Southern Water Tribe for months on end made his blood turn cold. Korra knew that being a fire bender made him more susceptible to the colder climate anyway.

"Then you have chosen the third and final choice," Katara said, closing her eyes, "Once you have finished with the healing of your injuries, the healer who set aside time for you will also be taking up residence with you, helping to regain your strength. When you are comfortable with your level of strength, the healer will leave, and you will be left by yourself."

The was a long pause from Mako, "Very well."

"I have already had someone interested in taking up the responsibility of being your healer. Until your are able to live on your own, she will assist you, guide you, and teach you," Katara's voice was gravely serious, "Only under certain circumstances will you be allowed to leave her side—she will also be serving as a kind of supervisor, monitoring your behavior. Consider it a sort of probation, if you will."

Another pause, "Who have you assigned?"

Katara turned to Korra and gave her a proud smile, "Oh, I didn't _assign_ anyone, rather she asked to be made responsible for your recovery. The Avatar and this hospital's most talented healer, Korra."

Mako visibly stiffened at Katara's words; he turned his head away from them again, facing the window so that they could not see his face. Korra frowned uncertainly; bringing a finger to her lip, she bit it nervously.

"I can't…" Mako muttered, and Korra frowned at his words.

"Korra is the one most capable for the job; aside from myself, there is no one better than her," Katara spoke somewhat severely, "You have already chosen the third option, and I will hold you to it. Korra is to help you recover, whether you like it or not."

"Katara, it's not that I'm ignorant to Korra's skills; I _know_ she is an incredible healer. But I can't… I don't want to hurt her again…" Mako shook his head back and forth, his eyes squeezing shut.

"Mako. You're not going to hurt her again. You just have to believe in yourself." Katara reassured Mako, her hand on his bony shoulder.

At that moment, Korra was thankful for Katara's somewhat suborn sense of will. She knew that if she had told Mako herself, she would have been unable to cope with his refusal. Taking a deep breath, Korra stepped forward, her steely gaze full of determination.

"Mako, I will not allow you to refuse my help," she said fiercely, "We're going to get through this. Together. You are my patient, and as of right now, I am responsible for you."

Another long pause blanketed the room, lasting longer than any of the others had—if Mako had had any doubts about Korra's devotion to him, he did not show it. He was thinking it over, Korra knew, but no matter what he felt about the situation, she refused to give up. She would see him through this.

"Even after so much time has passed," Mako said finally, "you're still the most loyal, brave, and selfless person I've ever known, Korra."

Her gaze softened a little, and her body relaxed, Katara looked over at her to see how she would react to her response, but she merely closed her eyes and smiled to herself—she knew that it was his way of saying yes.

"If I have to, I will remind you of just how wonderful I actually am," she retorted haughtily, but a playful grin was on her lips.

It was because Mako's face was turned slightly away from them that they did not see the change in his facial expression—they did not see the corner of his mouth curl slightly upwards into a small, amused smile.

* * *

When Katara and Korra returned to the office on the fifth floor, Kya had dutifully fulfilled her mothers request. All the papers that she had been working on were cleared and a stack of about five medical textbooks were sitting on the coffee table. Kya was sitting patiently on a couch when they entered.

"How did it go?" she asked, standing up abruptly.

"It went better than I expected to—though his response isn't exactly what I was expecting," Katara replied, "I'm also surprised that he was so willing to consent."

"I assure you, Katara," Korra emphasised once again, "his words were that of agreement."

Katara straightened up again and looked at Korra with a wrinkled smile, "Well, you know him better than anyone, though it's not how I would have gone about agreeing to something."

Korra shrugged lightly, a slight smile on her face, "That's the way Mako is."

"Well, alright," Katara responded, sounding dubious. "Moving on, thank you, Kya, for bringing the textbooks here. Korra, you recall our studies on the physics of bending?"

Korra nodded, "We didn't spend that much time on it though, I can't remember much."

"Right now I'm having Mako cleaned up, which might take a while, all things considered," Katara told the Avatar, heading over to the coffee table and picking up the textbook on the top of the stack, "While you wait, I want you to read through these books and try to regain your understanding of what it is you do remember. Mako's treatment is basic healing, but it works better if you know where to focus your energy."

Korra wandered over to the stack of books and picked up the second one on the stack, which was titled 'The Basic Principles and Physics of Bending the Elements.

"You had better get started," Katara responded, putting back the textbook she had, "I have other matters to attend to—I'll be in my office if you need me. I've made arrangements for you to be notified when Mako is ready to begin treatment."

"Alright," she replied, sitting down on the couch across from Kya, "Thank you for letting me do this, Katara."

"Don't thank me," was her reply, "Could I have convinced you otherwise?"

Korra smiled, "No."

"I thought not," Katara gave a soft laugh, "Come Kya, let's see how many hours of healing we have left to do."

Lost in thought, Korra hardly noticed the two water tribe women leave the room as she thought of her situation. Apprehension was coursing through her; it was understandable that she was nervous. The situation that Mako currently found himself was, in some way, her fault. At least that is what she kept telling herself.

Sighing, she cracked open the book laying on her lap, looking at the table of contents for indications of what chapter would be most useful to review. She turned to a page somewhere near the middle of the book—her mind became split in two, both parts still aware of what the other was doing. One part of her was reading the book resting in her lap and absorbing the information, committing it to memory. The other part of her mind, meanwhile, was coming up with a plan in order to get Mako's bending back. It was in this unique way that she could multi-task and be able to remember things better than other people could.

With a plan being formed in her mind and information being branded into it, Korra prepared herself for Mako's rehabilitation.

Mako stood in the shower, letting the cool water run over him and his now scrawny body, one hand braced against the wall. The water ran through his hair, causing the dried blood to become soaked and wash out. More water was running over his face, and he kept his eyes squinted shut tightly as if to shut out the excruciating pain—his body was still stinging from being injured, every movement he made seemed to increase his pain.

The healers, who had come to his room shortly after Katara and Korra had departed, helped him get undressed and into the shower, and were now waiting outside the bathroom for him to let them know when he was finished washing up. It had been a strange experience being so weak that they had to help him out of his bed. It would probably only be that way for a little while. He would be okay.

That last thought drew his mind to Korra. Avatar Korra. She had acted completely different from the Korra that he remembered, and he was surprised that she hadn't been sitting by his bedside already when he woke. She hadn't been as brash as she had been in the past, but rather, a little more subdued. Perhaps she no longer cared for him in that way— and despite his best efforts, Mako couldn't deny that the thought didn't bother him.

He bent down and picked up the shampoo he had been given before beginning to wash out the rest of the matted blood from his jet-black hair. He decided then that he would get well as quickly as he could, so that he could return to living his life that had, seemingly, been on hold for the year he had been gone.

Reaching out he turned off the tap and the water came to a halt, a quiet dripping splashing onto the ground. Fumbling with the handle of the door to the stall he cursed his current state, hating how weak he was. He stepped out of the shower and placed his hand on a stack of towels that had been put out for him; grabbing one, he wrapped it around his waist.

"Mako," one of the healers knocked on the door from outside, "Are you finished?"

"Yes," Mako replied, rubbing his hair dry with another towel from the pile.

He heard faintly, on the other side of the door, one healer say to the other: "Go and alert Avatar Korra that Mako will be ready shortly for treatment."

He lowered the towel from his head and held the thick fabric in his hands; no matter what, he would get well, whether Korra was the one who treated him or not.

* * *

Korra placed her hand on the handle of the door to Mako's room, a small nervousness plaguing her. Having read up on the properties, physics and forms of bending and reviewing what she already knew had helped a great deal, but she was still anxious—she did not want to make a mistake.

This was the first time that she would have taken care of someone, on such a serious level, with out Katara's supervision. When Katara had praised her, and called her the best healer next to herself, Korra was immensely shocked and flattered. She had realised that she was coming along better than most people that Katara had trained, but she had always thought that there were many people who were more skilled than herself. Apparently not. Perhaps this is why Katara let her deal with Mako, because maybe there was something she could do to help that Katara herself couldn't. Korra gripped the handle a little tighter before entering Mako's hospital room.

Mako was again lying in the hospital bed, new dressings over his substantial injuries. His hair was damp and hung down away from his face due to the extra weight of the water, revealing a very incomprehensible expression. He was also no longer wearing the torn and tattered clothes that he had been garbed in that morning and was now wearing a simple cloth hospital gown.

"Good afternoon Mako," she said cheerfully, "I'm glad that they got you cleaned up."

"So am I," was his reply.

"I can imagine you must have been itching to get out of your torn clothes," Korra continued, coming forward, putting her bag on the bedside table next to his bed.

"Yeah well, this gown isn't much better." he stated, his voice sounding a little irritated.

'_Can't say I blame him, those gowns are pretty itchy_…' she thought.

"Well hopefully you'll be out of here soon," Korra replied, changing her tone to a more serious one, "But you won't get better overnight, Mako. This treatment demands a great amount of patience; I won't have you pushing yourself—it would most likely result in a longer rehabilitation period."

"I understand."

Inwardly, Korra sighed.

'_I'm not sure that you do understand.'_

"Can you sit up for me, please," Korra ordered; pulling out a leather-bound book and skimming a dog-eared page for some last-minute information that could help her.

He complied without complaint and sat in a cross-legged position on the mattress, his back straight and his shoulders back. Korra was glad to see that he was no longer struggling to lift himself up as he rested his hands patiently on his lap.

Reaching out she undid the bandage from both his hands, slowly unwinding it until it fell away from his palms. She wrapped it in a neat coil and set it down next to the book she had spread out on the table. She then walked over and sat down on the side of his bed, looking into his amber eyes.

They sat in silence for a while, simply taking the person opposite them. Korra noticed the bags of exhaustion under Mako's amber orbs, clearly a sign he hadn't been sleeping well of late, now that he was no longer on such heavy sedatives. Despite the fact that he was now at least twenty kilograms skinnier, injured and generally in bad shape, Mako was still the most handsome man Korra had ever laid eyes on. His amber eyes glowed, drawing her in. Korra could feel her heart beat rising, Mako's stare incredibly intense. A moment later she cut through the tension between them by lowering her gaze to his hands.

To someone who did not understand the situation, it would appear that Mako was completely fine, asides from a few bumps and bruises still evident on his skin, but Korra knew better. Katara had indeed done a good job on his hands, as there were no marks or indications on the back of his hands that suggested he had ever been injured, but she knew that beneath the surface, the true damage was concealed.

"It's pretty bad huh?" Mako finally spoke, his gaze having followed Korra's.

Slowly he opened his hands and Korra noted the damage with grimness. There was severe damage to the center of his palm, and even though Katara had managed to partially seal the wound, the deep gash had crusted slightly shut and appeared extremely painful.

Korra went and rummaged around inside her bag, procuring a salve that she had made up earlier that morning. Sitting back down on the edge of the bed, she took each of Mako's palms in her own and examined them, comparing the injuries. There was damage to the ligaments on both hands, but his actual hands, from what she could tell, seemed to have sustained no damage at all. She scooped onto her finger a little dob of the salve and place it onto each of his hands, rubbing it in gently, her renewed knowledge on bending allowing her to recognise what she must do.

Korra stretched out Mako's hands before laying her fingertips in the center of his palm. Mako's hands seized up, hissing in pain.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice angry.

Korra glared at him slightly. "I am trying to begin the healing procedure," she replied irritably, "If you don't mind, could you let go of my fingers?"

Slowly Mako's grip on her fingers loosened and he opened his palms again, leaving them open in his lap. There was a trace of a scowl on his face; Korra could tell he was in pain, but there was nothing she could do about it. Again she placed her fingertips on the different energy points in his palms, where the book had said they would be.

Focusing energy in her hands, she exerted it through her fingertips and into Mako's flesh, keeping close watch on the flow of energy. She closed her eyes in concentration, moving the energy over his palms to the infected areas, using her skills as a healer to repair the torn tissues.

For half an hour she and Mako sat perfectly still, neither of them moving, the only movement that could be seen was the slow rise and fall of their chests as they breathed, and the wispy energy that was glowing at Korra's fingertips. After a few more minutes Korra dropped her hands to her side, feeling drained. Healing something as delicate as a persons hands was very difficult and she now knew why Katara hadn't healed him completely the previous night—she had run out of energy to do so.

"I'm finished," she said to Mako needlessly, "It may feel a little tender for the next few days as a result of the process, I guess the best thing you can try and do is get some sleep."

"Okay," he replied as Korra stood up from the bed and went and grabbed some fresh bandages.

She sat down closer to him this time and wrapped the white bandages around his hands, being careful around the center, not wanting to hurt him. Mako waited patiently as she tied the bandage at the back, and didn't say anything as she stood up, packing away the book and the salve she had used.

"I'll come back in a few hours and we'll begin the rehabilitation," she told him as she slung the bag over her shoulder, feeling extremely tired herself, "If you need anything, call the nurse by using the red button on the right side of you, she should be able to tend to your needs until I come back."

She began to cross the room, ready to head up the lounge and take a much-needed rest—her energy levels were still low from healing him the previous night, and she had not had a chance to replenish them completely. The process she had just completed had drained them even further, and she longed for some sleep.

"Korra," Mako called out to her as she reached for the door handle.

Pausing, she turned back to look at him; he had lain back on the bed again and was facing the ceiling, "What is it Mako?"

"I'm glad it's you," he stated, and she could hear an undertone of nostalgia in his voice, "I mean, you know me better than anyone. Even myself. But _why_ are you doing this for me?"

Korra gave a sad smile. "You seem to have forgotten, Mako, the words I said to you on that day a year ago."

"I haven't forgotten," Mako said after a moment.

His words tugged at her heartstrings, touching her, "Then you should know why I'm doing this for you."

With that final word she exited the room, closing the door gently behind her.

* * *

Some of you might have noticed a lack in other characters, but don't worry, they'll come into the story in the next few chapters—once word gets out that Mako has been rescued, and especially after he gets released from the hospital and Korra takes up residence with him, you'll be seeing a lot more of Team Avatar.


	6. Chapter 6

Fade to Black: Chapter Five

* * *

It took a while for sleep to claim Mako, his mind kept toying with what Korra had said to him before she had left his room. The memory was in fact vivid in his head: her fighting to keep him from being taken by Amon and the Equalists, screaming his name as they dragged him away, promising she would do whatever it took to get him back. She had promised that she would do anything for him, anything that she could do to find him; shortly afterwards she found herself unconscious and lying on the cold stone floor, himself and the Equalists long gone. Her words had been a source of comfort during his dark days, but despite that, he knew what she had promised was impossible. Yet here he was, safe and relatively sound back in Republic City.

Even though he had been gone so long from Republic City, it seemed that time had not faded her memory of her promise, nor had her love for him grown any fainter. Yet she was different from the seventeen year old that was Korra of his memories; she was no longer abrasive or rash in her decision-making. In fact, she had been rather cool, calm and collected.

To say that he cared more for the current Korra would be a lie—despite having turned his world upside down, she had become a close friend to him, as close as Bolin, maybe even more so. Perhaps it was good that Korra become more mature in his absence, but to Mako, Korra just wasn't Korra when she was like this.

Mako grumbled to himself and rolled over onto his side, feeling a little grouchy. His back was sore and he didn't know why, his entire body still hurt and his hands tingled from where Korra had begun healing them.

Drowsiness overcame and claimed him, his lasts thoughts of Korra.

* * *

Korra knocked once on the door to Mako's room before entering. The nap had replenished her immediate energy reserve, though she knew she would need a full night's sleep before she could call herself completely refreshed. Mako turned his head towards her as she entered; his face looking less exhausted than it had done earlier.

"Did you sleep?" she asked him, making her way over to his bed.

"A little," he replied, sitting upright, "My back is hurting."

Korra smiled to herself, and made a slight tutting noise, "I'm not surprised—you were sitting so rigidly when I was healing you earlier. You don't have to be so stiff, it would probably be better if you tried to relax."

"Yeah… Yeah you're right," he replied a little sheepishly.

"Well," she said as cheerfully as she could manage, "It's not good for one to be bedridden for too long when they are able to walk. We're going to walk around for a bit, to stretch your legs a little."

After giving a brisk nod, Mako hung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, wobbling slightly. He held his one arm out to steady himself, and the other held the side of his head, as if trying to stop something spinning inside his head. He looked dizzy and disoriented and Korra was not the least bit surprised, having read something of the sort when she was reviewing the loss of bending earlier. Walking up to him she took his one arm and steadied him.

"Thanks." Mako said as he placed his hands on her forearm for support, giving Korra a gentle smile.

Mako was a good head taller than her now, and as he turned to face her, she saw that his height hadn't been the only thing that had changed in the year they'd been apart. Korra noted that his jawline and cheek bones were more defined, though admittedly that could be a result of his dramatic weightless, nonetheless Mako's outward appearance had gone from that of a teenage boy to a young man.

"No problem," she replied, "It's been a while since you've been up and about, your muscles and body will take a little convincing."

"My muscles? I don't have any muscles left," Mako sighed, "It's going to take more than a little convincing and coercing my body to build up my muscles again."

"Well, right now muscle build up should be the _last_ thing on your mind, Mako," she returned his sigh, "Shall we get going?"

"I just want to see if I can manage of my own," he stated, gently shrugging his arm out of her grasp, not permitting her to grab his arm again. Korra sighed.

"Alright then, but there is no way that you'll get very far," Korra said, taking a step back from him, "After you."

A small frown crossed his face, but undaunted, Mako walked proudly towards the door. Korra could tell that he was having trouble with balance, a side effect of having his bending taken away, on top of his already weakened state. He was trying his best to hide it, and she watched with grim amusement as he walked in a wobbly pattern across the room. Actually she was somewhat impressed by his determination, but she knew that regardless of how determined he was, he would be unable to manage on his own at this point. She was proven right when instead of walking through the open doorway, Mako crashed instead into the doorframe.

Mildly concerned, she approached him, but he waved her off as she tried to ask him about his head, which he was hanging onto. She crossed her arms stubbornly as he made it past the doorway and into the hall. This time he was a bit smarter, and put his hand against the wall for support. His balance improved instantly and he strode down the hall holding his head up as if to show Korra he didn't need her help. She followed after him.

"You know, I really think we should be taking your rehabilitation slowly," she stated, following behind him.

He snorted before replying with "Give me a little more credit, Korra," and increased his pace, trying to prove to her that he could manage. It was then that his hand ran out of wall as the hall divided up into an intersection. The sudden lack of wall caused him to tumble over sideways around the corner.

"You'd do well to listen to me sometimes, Mako," Korra remarked, shaking her head at his rash behavior, understanding all too well his desperation to get better as soon as possible.

Pulling himself up off the ground, he dusted himself off.

"I was hoping to go out to the local park, you know the one; some fresh air will do you good," she told him, trying to approach him again but he flinched away. She shrugged helplessly, "We'll just follow this hall and take the elevator."

Mako braced his hand on the wall again and followed her instructions. Korra shook her head slowly behind his back, keeping one step behind him; Katara would probably be unhappy with how she was treating her patient, but she knew it was good for Mako's sense of pride.

He reached the elevator without incident and pushed the down button to emphasise his accomplishment; he turned and gave Korra a triumphant smirk.

"I'll admit, you're doing better than I had thought you would," she said, as the elevator door opened. A smirk of her own decorated her lips as a slight laugh was emitted from Mako. Following her into the elevator he leaned up against the wall, his arms crossed.

"Again, you should give me more credit, Korra," he said as they waited for the elevator to descend to entrance level.

"I just don't want you getting ahead of yourself, trust me, that's about the worst thing you could do in your condition. I'd know." Korra informed Mako, giving him a look that didn't need explaining.

"Which way is the park from here?" he asked her, doing his best to change the subject.

"Over in that direction," she said pointing off to her left.

Since she was now standing on opposite him, her hand had pointed to her left—but Mako's right—and he mistook the direction of her hand as the direction of the park, which is what Korra had intended. She let him take a few steps towards the reception desk before she called out to him.

"It's the other way."

Korra rolled her eyes as he turned abruptly and stormed past her, muttering a long string of colourful words as he went. Amused, Korra watched as Mako walked dizzily across the foyer, not having any walls nearby in which he could balance himself. She walked after him, staying a step behind just to make sure he didn't further gravely injure himself.

It was only as he took the first step outwards over the small set of stairs, turning his head to check that Korra was still accompanying him, that Korra spoke out, "There's a slight dip, three stairs deep."

As predicted, Mako was again picking himself off the ground and dusting himself off.

"Just a bit farther," she said brightly as she walked past him and through the automatic doors.

Mako came up behind her, still seeming rather dizzy. She sighed inwardly, he sure was stubborn— more so than herself some of the time. She had been hoping that he would admit defeat by now. Oh well, obviously he hadn't been humiliated enough in order to ask for her assistance.

"We'll just walk along the path for a short while, okay?" she told him, and then added with deliberate emphasis, _"You seem to be having difficulty_, and I don't want you to _strain yourself."_

His facial expression was livid, but Korra shook her head, smiling slightly. Taking great strides forward, Mako trudged onwards, not paying any heed to Korra. Knowing that he would not get that far, she just simply watched him from behind.

What made the local park located so close to the hospital so unique was not the types of flora or fauna they had there, but more the wonderful exterior decorating that had been implemented. The park had been constructed right in the center of the city, featuring ponds, pagodas and people with parasols. The hospital that Mako was currently a patient of, backed into a hill, it's paths winding down and splitting into two through perfectly manicured gardens and into the park, where the patients who were recovering, could come and get some fresh air or stretch their legs.

Korra, who had been momentarily distracted by the parks beauty, returned her gaze to Mako just in time to watch as he stumbled onto the fork in the road, lose his balance because of the loss in his strength, and tumble neatly over the edge into the first flowerbed.

"Watch out, Mako," Korra informed him, just after he lost his balance, walking up to the ledge, "the path splits in two."

She watched him tumble through the air—the fall wasn't that high, only a metre—and when Mako's hands were just about to touch the earth, she bent the earth beneath him into soft soil in order to protect him. What Korra had not noticed was the fact that there was another flowerbed a metre below Mako—she quickly realised the fact as he rolled over the edge and landed on a rash cactus bush below.

Korra who had had her arms crossed stubbornly, uncrossed them and leapt nimbly down to his side; this was getting to be too much—and apparently Mako thought so as well.

"Damn it, Korra!" he cursed at her as she helped him get detangled from the bush, his skin breaking out in red rashes, "Why in the flameo are you doing this to me?"

Korra glowered down at him, hoping that some way or another she was transmitting waves of her displeasure towards him, "Maybe it's because you're acting so childish!"

He was sitting on the ground, a foul expression showing that he was brooding. He said nothing to her response, but clenched his fists. Korra carefully stepped up to him, careful to avoid the rash cactus bush that Mako had just been held victim to.

"Mako, I know you're used to being independent—I know you like doing things on your own," she spoke angrily at him, her hands on her hips, "I know you avoid asking others for help, but you know what? You can't live that way anymore! You need me, Mako, and as much as I know you don't want to admit it, I know that you know it's true. You have lost your bending, something that mostly defined who you were—maybe eighty-five to ninety percent of the time you relied on that aspect of yourself to relate to other people. Now you are relying one hundred percent on the type of person you are _without_ your bending. And need I mention that you're still recovering from what have to be the most horrendous injuries I have ever witnessed? There is no way that you can get by on your own right now, and until you recover you will need some sort of assistance from time to time. This rehabilitation is to get you accustomed to managing on your own, but that doesn't mean that you can completely brush me aside. I am trying to help you, and I'm doing my best to get you back to living a normal lifestyle, but you seem pretty keen on refusing my help. You are being help-resistant. If you still can't grow up and allow yourself to get help from other people once in a while, then you might as well forget about taking down Amon and the Equalists, because there will be absolutely no way that you can do this on your own."

After her long lecture, Korra was left breathless, having put so much force into her reprimands as she had shouted at him. Silently sitting on the ground, Mako hadn't even flinched at her words, but she knew that even though his expression was masking his emotions, she had hit something sensitive and now he was thinking about what she had said. After a while, his fists relaxed and he beckoned her over.

"Help me up," he ordered quietly, facing away from her.

A relieved smirk spread over her lips as she realised he had finally given in. Sighing, she gripped his arm and helped pull him to his feet, and already he looked steadier with her holding on.

"Trust me, it's a lot less embarrassing to have someone assist you down a hallway than tripping over every set of stairs and person you meet," she told him quietly as he offered her his arm and linked it with hers.

"You could have stopped me from looking like an idiot," he muttered, his head not held as proudly as before, but was tilted in a humbled way.

"Now where would the fun in that be?" she replied with a smirk, leading him carefully out of the rash cactus bush, to the path that had forked and was now on their right, "Come on, let's head back."

He carefully stepped over it after she had done so, leaning against her arm for support, and Korra approved of his bettered behavior, however his attire was a little worse for wear. The white hospital gown was covered in dirt and there were a couple twigs caught in Mako's hair. The bandages around his hands were no better, as it had mud smeared over it.

"Let's go back inside and get you cleaned up," she said, trying not to laugh at his state, "Perhaps the fresh air is a little too much for you."

* * *

Mako sat on the bed in his room, wondering how on earth he came to the position he was in right now. He was back in the room where he was staying, sitting in a cross-legged position, his left arm outstretched to Korra who was sitting next him, wiping off the dirt with a wet washcloth. His chin was rested in his right hand and his elbow was leaning on his knee; his amber eyes following every move, completely enthralled with what it was that she was doing.

Korra had kindly gone and retrieved another one of those horrible hospital gowns for him to wear, and removed the bandages from his hands to prevent dirt from getting into the wound. Though he would never outwardly admit it, he wished he had listened to Korra to begin with and just accepted her help instead of going through all the embarrassing ordeals she had put him through. It couldn't be helped though, what was done was done, and he knew that if he did not accept Korra's help, he was completely helpless. Mako blamed his stubbornness and less than willing attitude on the fact that he had had to build a 'wall' of sorts around Amon and the Equalists, as a way of blocking out their cruelty. It had been the only way he had coped with his situation. Being in the 'care' of Amon and his Equalist lackeys for a year had changed him.

"Alright, done," came Korra's voice, snapping him out of his reveries,"Right arm next."

He moved his head to rest in the palm of his left hand as he extended his right arm over to her, where she began to wipe it gently with the washcloth. He sighed slightly, grateful that there was nobody in the room to witness what was going on; he felt embarrassed by his weakened state. No longer was he the famed probender he had been, or the firebender on Team Avatar. He was merely a shadow of his former self. He clenched his jaw tightly and scowled; what use would he be to anyone now?

"Turn your head towards me, Mako," Korra ordered and he reluctantly complied.

The washcloth came to his face as Korra gently removed anything smeared on. He couldn't understand her—she said she wanted to help him, yet she let him disgrace himself, and seemed to have found it amusing too. He suddenly winced as the washcloth came dangerously close to the still healing gash on his forehead.

"Be careful!" he exclaimed irritably, flinching backwards away from her, trying to protect his sensitive sore.

"I'm sorry, Mako, but I'm going to have to get close; we can't risk infection," she replied apologetically.

He sighed and allowed the washcloth to come in contact with his face again, bracing against the pain when she got a little too close to the sore area. After a few more minutes she took the cloth away and stood again. Her footsteps receded and he watched her intently as she rinsed the washcloth out in the sink of the bathroom that was located at the other end of his room.

He turned away from her when she came back, he was still mad about how she had treated him. A sigh came from behind him and then he felt her pulling twigs and leaves from his jet black hair. His foul mood darkened.

"I am sorry about earlier, Mako," Korra said from behind him, "It was wrong of me."

He closed his weary eyes, feeling her hands leave his head. Korra's weight left the bed and Mako's ears were met by the sound of a few steps, then the rustle of a garbage bag as the leaves and twigs were dropped inside. A cupboard was opened somewhere and there was rummaging for a few seconds before it was closed again. Behind him, he could sense Korra approaching once more, and then after a moment, a gauze bandage was rested against his forehead, being wound about his head. He waited patiently until Korra tied the bandage before lying down on his bed and curling up into a ball.

"Why did you let me make a fool out of myself, Korra?" he asked, facing away from her, "I thought you wanted to help me."

"I tried to, but you wouldn't let me," she said in an exasperated tone, and he felt the corner of the mattress by his feet sink as she sat down, "You insisted that you 'could manage fine on your own'."

He curled up slightly tighter, feeling ashamed at his actions. "Perhaps I am too used to being independent," he hated saying it out loud, feeling vulnerable because she knew him that well.

"Well, I know this isn't that easy," Korra murmured empathetically, "I mean, after all, I know what it's like to have everything that you thought you were, stripped away from beneath you. But there was nothing you could do, right? So it's not your fault you're in this state."

At that moment, Mako remembered every single reason why he had first rejected the young Avatar's advances. Her ironic, yet true, words awakened something within him; she couldn't understand him—she knew nothing about what he had been through. She had tried to associate with him even though she could never even begin to relate to him. It had always been that way; the way she managed to get under his skin, her ability to see straight through him, to understand his inner turmoil, even if she knew nothing about the situation. She really did to meddle too much—of all the people in the hospital, why did it have to be her who had to help him? Why couldn't it be anybody but her? Why did it have to be Korra? Why _Korra_?

A burning sensation ripped through him; he could feel his anger boiling over. The twisting pain of her words worming their way around his emotions, drawing motivation from them and then suddenly breaking free of his mood, running rampant and out of his control.

Anger suddenly disappeared as apprehension seeped in. His amber eyes snapped open, widening in fear, and he began feeling his anger starting to spread from the tip of his head to the ends of his toes. Frantically he tried to control it, force it to recede, but he was still weak and he was losing. It was spreading quicker than normal—he had noticed that it had been acting up strangely of late, but only when he was aggravated from an outside force. Why was he so _angry_? Panic started to grip him, which caused him to worry even more—he never panicked.

He gripped his palms into tight fists in desperation, though he knew that it would not be able to stem the anger that had burst loose.

"Korra!" he heard himself shout her name frantically, though he did not know what she could do for him. He only knew that if he didn't get his anger under control soon, he could end up killing her against his will. Who knew what his fate would be then—forget gaol, he would be most likely executed for killing the Avatar.

The weight on the end of his bed disappeared quickly as Korra ran over to his side, pulling his shoulder towards her, forcing him onto his back, "Mako! No, you have to control your anger! Mako, stop it!"

"I can't!" he grunted out, as something feral seemed to emerge within the depths of his sub-consciousness. His fingers began to twitch with sudden urges to hurt something, to destroy, while his conscious mind was doing everything in its power to resist.

There was a pause behind him as he continued to writhe in agony, and he wondered dimly what Korra was doing. She pulled him up into a sitting position and he felt her bend down to his head. He could barely keep the desire to reach about and strangle her under control—she should leave, he could end up killing her. His grasp was slipping…why was she still here!?

"Forgive me."

A sudden force hit the back of his neck sharply. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he smirked slightly in realisation at the irony as he began to lose consciousness—this had been the same way Amon had knocked her out when he'd ben captured. The night of their botched coup. Blackness then took him as he finally passed out.

* * *

Review as always lovely readers!


	7. Chapter 7

Fade to Black: Chapter Six

* * *

"He what? " Katara asked as she almost dropped her cup of tea onto the desk before her as she faced Kya, who had just brought her news from the hospital.

"He went ballistic," Kya replied nervously, judging Katara's mood before continuing, "Korra managed to knock him out, but his body is still having an adverse reaction to his outburst. It's like he has a fever or something, he's warm to the touch."

Katara shook her head slighlty before murmuring to herself, "Firebenders always are the _worst_ kind of patients."

"Mum?" Kya asked timidly, not sure what the older water tribe woman would do.

"Kya," she started softly, and the young woman stopped muttering to herself, turning to look at her mother, "Take the top healers with you and work on bringing down Mako's fever. He's body won't be able to handle much more. Find Korra. Now go, quickly!"

"Right!" she nodded, before dashing out of the room.

Katara didn't waste another moment as she got up from her seat, and walked briskly out of the room, down the flight of stairs and towards the hospital. People hastily jumped out of the ailing healers way as she made her way down the street in a hurry. She waited for the elevator, willing it with all her might to go more quickly. She made her way as quickly as her elderly legs would allow to room two hundred and twenty one, and flung the door open.

Korra was sitting on the edge of Mako's bed, holding his hand in hers, looking extremely perplexed and nervous. A sheen of sweat could be seen on Mako's body, his forehead covered with a damp wash cloth; he was unconscious still, but his fever was causing him to shiver in an almost delirious way. Korra looked up at Katara in a relieved manner as she approached the side of the bed, tears forming in the young Avatar's eyes.

"Alright—come with me, Korra," Katara ordered, not asking any questions or allowing Korra to ask her any.

Katara left the unconscious boy laying in his hospital bed, ignoring Korra's look of desperation and merely motioned for her to follow. Leaving at a brisk pace, Korra matched it, wringing her hands as she walked.

"Katara—?" Korra began but Katara cut her off.

"What happened, Korra?" she asked as they stepped into the elevator, the doors closing behind them.

"Oh, Katara," Sakura wailed, covering her face with her hands, "I think it might have been my fault!"

"How so?"

"Mako wasn't being very cooperative, insisting that he could manage on his own…so I let him have his way, and—" Korra took a shuddering breath, "—well, it wasn't very flattering for him. He fell and bumped into a lot before he finally accepted my help. Do you think that perhaps because I put him under that strain, that I ultimately caused his outburst…?"

"No," Katara replied firmly, a wrinkled smile coming to her lips regardless of the situation, "Damaging someone's dignity never harmed anyone, and it certainly does not trigger the outburst of anger we're seeing with Mako."

"Then what…?" Korra asked, taking some deep breaths to calm herself.

Katara closed her eyes and pondered it for a moment, "I can't imagine he was in a good mood after being publicly embarrassed like that. Especially by one of the people he cares most for. Mako has had to deal with a lot over the past year, he's mental state isn't stable and I wouldn't be surprised if a variety of these things, on top of his ragged state caused him to have more anger than usual."

"Then it was my—" Korra began despairingly, but again she was cut off.

"How did he react to being unable to control his anger?" Katara asked.

"He seemed…worried—no, more like terrified," Korra pondered, clutching her hands together, her knuckles having turned white under the pressure.

"Exactly," Katara replied, "He was not expecting to be unable to control his anger, and was desperately trying to do so. You did the right thing in knocking him out—who knows what might have happened if you hadn't done so."

"What are you going to do to him?" Korra asked, her voice full of desperation.

Katara stopped in her tracks and turned to take in the young woman before her. She could see that Korra's eyes were full of tears that were threatening to brim over, her shoulders sagged and her arms hung next to her as if she'd lost all hope.

Katara placed her hands on Korra's upper arms, pulling her into a reassuring hug.

"Some healers and I are going to administer a complex draft into his system—we have high hopes that it will help curb his anger," Katara replied, patting Korra's back soothingly "This is the last time that Mako will ever be lose control—he will never be at risk of an outburst again."

* * *

It was not Mako's internal clock that woke him from the long slumber that he had fallen into, but rather the loud and obnoxious outburst that had erupted somewhere outside his room and ultimately roused him from his sleep. He groaned slightly and rested his arm across his forehead, dimly wondering what was going on. Again he found himself wondering what had happened to him—a feeling he had come to find very annoying.

"Where is he?!" came the obnoxious sounding voice—one that hadn't changed with time and was still very distinguishable, "I'm going to bend a _boulder_ at his head!"

Mako groaned and rolled over onto his side, facing away from the door. He knew that word would get out that he had been rescued and brought back to Republic City, and he knew that eventually the person who was making a ruckus outside the door was going to come and find him.

"Bolin!"

Mako heard Korra exclaim from outside the door, "Your brother is _resting_ right now—along with a number of other patients. This is a _hospital_ and I would appreciate it if you kept your voice down. Jeez, you're as bad as Meelo. The both of you are such wild cards."

"After everything he's put me through for the past year?! I'm going to beat some sense into him if it's the last thing I do!" Bolin's reply came and there were some grunts, like he was trying to make it past Korra in the hallway, but she was preventing passage.

"Mako is in no condition to be seen right now! He's asleep and if you continue to be noisy, you may wake him!" Korra retorted, sounding like she had landed a punch on Bolin somewhere.

Mako's lip twitched in amusement.

"You shouldn't come so early in the morning either, Bolin!" Korra exclaimed, "The morning is evil."

A frown creased Mako's face; the last thing he remembered was that it was the afternoon and he'd had another outburst. What had happened since then?

"It doesn't matter if Mako's injured or not, he can take it! I owe him a good beating for what he did to you!" Bolin growled from the hallway.

What he had done to Korra? A small frown descended on to his face. What _had_ he done to Korra?

"Enough!" Sakura lashed out angrily on the other side of Mako's hospital room door, "Look, I have a job to do. I can't constantly be worrying about keeping you from making another huge ruckus! You don't know what has happened to Mako—I can tell you right now that he is not in any condition to see anyone! Now please leave, Bolin, before I call hospital security and have you thrown out."

There was silence in the hall for a moment, "Korra…"

"Please, Bolin," Mako heard Korra say in a weary tone, almost as if she were begging his brother for peace.

There was another pause and then Bolin spoke again, "What happened to my brother?

"I can't tell you, Bolin…" Korra said, barely audible to Mako's ears, "As Mako's healer, I am not at liberty to tell you. And as your friend, I think it's better if Mako tells you himself—but you're going to have to wait until he's better before I'll let you see him."

There was a sigh, and Mako almost didn't catch it because of the walls and closed door, "I'll come back some other time then…"

There was the sound of receding footsteps that sounded partially dragged, and it was not until that they had completely faded from his hearing that Korra opened the door to his room tentatively.

"Mako?" she whispered quietly, "Are you still asleep?"

He rolled back onto his back, a grim smile on his lips, "I was…until Bo decided to pay a visit."

Korra's footsteps drew near to him and the side of his bed sank a little as she sat down on its edge.

"I'm sorry I let him wake you," she said softly, "I shouldn't have let him make it this far. He's a sneaky little bugger though."

"Still as hard-headed as ever," Mako commented.

"Some things never change," he heard her say in a poignant tone and he knew that she was smiling, "And Bolin is one of those things."

"Yeah."

"Just so you know, now that Bolin knows that you've been rescued, it's going to spread like wildfire throughout our old acquaintances. You'll probably be getting many more people who want to visit you," Sakura said after a pause, "It's out of our hands now."

"How did Bo find out?" Mako asked in curiosity.

"He has this habit of listening in on Beifong at work, trying to get in on all the rescue missions that would have helped in returning you to the city. He promised to bring you back, and he had never given up on succeeding in doing so," Korra replied, and to Mako, she sounded slightly emotional, "Apparently what he heard this morning was enough for him to figure out that you were back."

"I see…" Mako growled mentally; he did not want visitors. He preferred it if he didn't have anything to do with many people at all, "Korra… Thank you." He finally pulled away his arm from over his forehead, looking her in the eye.

"For what?" her face was one of confusion.

"For not telling Bolin what happened," was his response.

"People going to find out one way or another, but I wanted you to be the one who decides when they get to learn about it," Korra told him, looking more empathetic now.

"Yeah."

"Anyway, how are you feeling today?" she asked him as she stood again and put something on the nightstand beside him. There was a rummaging and then the sound of papers being attached to a clipboard.

"Tired," he responded.

She sat down on the edge of his bed again, and he could she her harsh gaze at him, "No aching or burning sensations? Nothing?"

"No…" Mako replied. He paused for a moment and then looked away from her, "What happened, Korra?"

He watched her lay the clipboard on her lap, sighing faintly, "Yesterday you kind of went ballistic, your anger went through the roof. Katara said that because of what you've been through in the past year, you're a lot more sensitive than you were before. Understandably, you were probably a little more than irritated with me for what I put you through, and that triggered your outburst."

Mako clenched his fist slightly—he shouldn't have let that happen. After being captured by Amon, he had been subject to much torture, causing him to be less in control of his own emotions. That was why he had promised himself, as he was tortured by the Lieutenant and other Equalists, to never to lose control again, save for one task, and that task only—to bring down the Equalist Faction.

"What happened after that?" he asked.

"I knocked you out, and you were taken to a room on the fourth floor where Katara and four other healers spent the rest of the day bringing down your fever," Korra replied, "Katara administered some sort of drug that acts as a restrictor to your emotions."

"Korra?"

"Yes, Mako?"

"Please leave," he stated, his fist clenching and unclenching under the sheets, "I'm still tired."

Korra stood up from his bed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept you awake. Just ask the nurse for me when you are rested."

There was rustling as Korra put away the objects she had been holding, before there were the footsteps of her walking across the room, opening the door and shutting it quietly behind her. It was after her footsteps were completely gone from earshot that his hand lashed out and tried with all his might to produce flames from the palms of his hands. Fury seethed in his mind as he continued to envisage the amber flames exploding from his hands; his bending been lost for all eternity, and the only power he'd possessed was gone—along with any chance that he had in taking down Amon and his Equalists.

* * *

Korra knew that even though Mako said he wanted to rest, she knew he just wanted to be alone for a while. Losing his ability to control his emotions must have been a blow because she knew it probably had been a reliable source of power for him, and no longer having that power was as bad as losing his bending.

Korra pushed the down button on the elevator and waited patiently, casting a glance in the direction of Mako's room. She figured it would be a while before he calmed down again, so she might as well run some errands while she waited. She entered the open elevator door after casting a last look at Mako's room; he'd move on.

She stepped off on the main floor and walked over to the reception desk, adjusting the bag that was slung over her shoulder.

"Avatar Korra," the receptionist, Izumi, smiled, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm going out for a while, my patient is resting, I need a phone just in case he wakes and needs me while I'm gone," Korra explained opening her bag, pulling out the notes she took earlier, "Give these to Katara when she arrives today, will you?"

"Certainly," the receptionist smiled, exchanging an on-call mobile for the papers, "Have a good time, Avatar Korra."

* * *

Asami stood outside her industrial Estate, opening up the door to the factory, getting ready for the day of production that awaited. It was still early in the day but she had been late in opening the factory—her father, were he still around, would not be pleased. Asami hurried into the factory, switching on the lights before going back out into the street to latch the door to her factory open on its hinge.

It was then that out of the corner of her eye that Asami saw Korra walking down the road, carrying a shoulder bag that seemed to be weighed heavily down. What was Korra up to? She hadn't seen her in days—she hadn't so much as heard from the young Avatar in four days; it was very unusual for Korra not to at least check in.

The heavy looking bag was suspicious too…normally it didn't weigh down so much on Korra's shoulder; it was like she was carrying rocks or something in there. Dashing quickly behind the door to the factory so that Korra didn't notice her presence, Asami watched Korra by peering from behind the factory door, with much curiosity. Korra passed the entrance to the factory without so much as casting a glance over and continued up the street, seeming preoccupied.

'_Ugh, what's another half hour?'_ Asami thought to herself as she unlatched the factory door, rendering the factory closed.

Turning to follow Korra, she headed up the street to where she had last caught site of the young Avatar. Placing her hand on the side of the building, Asami peered around the corner and spotted Korra's smooth mocha complexion among the crowd. She was no longer wearing black, she noted with interest, but wearing her regular blue Southern Water Tribe garbs. A frown marred Asami's face, and she narrowed her clear green eyes—where on earth was Korra going?

"Hey, Asami!"

Asami looked over her shoulder and saw Meelo and Ikki making their way down the street and over towards her.

"What are you doing?" Ikki called over to her, her face spreading into a grin.

She put a finger to her lips and made a shushing sound, "There's no time for that, come here you two!"

Meelo raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "What is it, o' fair maiden?"

Asami rolled her eyes before pointing around the corner to where Korra was still walking, "See that?"

"What—Korra?" Ikki asked, her quirking her head to the side in confusion, "What about her?"

"She's been acting very suspiciously lately," Asami replied crossing her arms, "You two up to a little mischief?"

"Ooooooooh! Oh oh oh yes. Yes Asami!" Came Ikki's reply as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands together. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to follow her and find out what she's up to." Asami said as she began to follow after Korra.

"Aye aye Sir!" Meelo saluted, following behind Asami and his older sister.

As if from thin air, Jinora appeared, a very stern look upon her face, "Oh no you don't!" she grabbed the back of Meelo's shirt as he turned to follow Asami and Ikki, yanking him back towards her, "You're coming with me!"

"No Jinora! I'm going to cause mischief! Now unhand me!"

"Ugh, Meelo… What mischief are you talking about _now_?"

At that moment, Asami and Ikki came back from around the corner they'd just turned, wondering where their accomplice had gone off to.

"Asami asked if we wanted to help her in finding out what Korra's up to." Meelo grinned up at his older sister, who still had a firm hold of his shirt.

"You know Asami, if you're curious as to what Korra is up to, you could always just ask." Jinora finally let go of Meelo, his wriggling having become rather annoying.

"Believe me, Jinora, I've tried." Asami sighed, shaking her head from side to side, "It's unusual for Korra to hide things from me, let alone not contact me for more than three days."

"Come on Jinora, it'll be fun!" shrieked Ikki, Meelo agreeing in earnest.

Jinora contemplated the offer to reveal whatever it was that Korra was up to for a moment, thinking of all the pros and cons to either answer. After a few more minutes she answered; "Fine."

Meelo and Ikki both grinned in glee, Asami smiling slightly at their excitement.

"Okay, let's go, before we lose track of her."

The four of them dashed around the corner after Korra as she disappeared further down the road, a reluctant Jinora following behind Asami and her siblings. Korra was far enough away that the crowd between them would hide her and the Air benders easily, and they would not be spotted unless Korra was expecting someone to be following her.

"How troublesome," Jinora muttered under her breath, clearly not enjoying herself.

They followed Korra down the street as she continued to walk, the four of them trying not to look suspicious within the crowd, yet trying to hide from sight. There were many stores that lined the street, yet Korra did not stop at any of them.

"She's not shopping at any of the stores!" Ikki hissed to Asami, "She's obviously up to something."

"Maybe she's just out for a walk," Jinora replied logically.

"With that bag?" Asami asked incredulously, "There's no way she would take something that heavy with her if she were just going 'for a walk'. See how it's digging into her shoulder like that? I wonder what's in it…"

"Probably some books," Jinora replied disinterestedly, "Is this really necessary, Asami? Don't you have some work at the factory to do, I mean, aren't you in the middle of producing a new Sato Mobile?"

Asami nodded, scowling slightly, ignoring Jinora's last question, "I just want to find out where she's going."

"Troublesome…"

"Oh! Come on!" Meelo retorted, grabbing his sisters arm and hauling her onwards once again.

Korra continued to walk along the street, still not having noticed Asami and the three air bender kids who were following her; it was a wonder within itself that she hadn't even felt their presence yet.

Asami suddenly stopped, noticing suddenly that Korra had come to the neighborhood that had once been where the Mako and his brother had taken up residence. This was interesting…mourning Mako's capture and wearing black, and the day that she stopped wearing black she had decided to pay a visit to the old apartment building in which the four of them, Team Avatar, had spent many an hour together.

"Did you see that?" Ikki squealed quietly, "Did you see where she just went?"

"Yeah," Meelo replied, not caring much, "What of it?"

"That's Mako's apartment," came Jinora's reply.


	8. Chapter 8

Fade to Black: Chapter Seven

* * *

"That's Mako's apartment." Came Jinora's voice from behind her.

Asami stood there, a little bewildered before speaking again. "Two days ago I ran into Korra while she was making her way home. She was garbed in black and I figured she'd been sent on an official political errand to one of the neighboring cities. After thinking on it a little, I realised that that day marked a year since Mako's capture," Asami explained to the three airbender children, "And today she's back to wearing her usual garb but suddenly she decides to pay a visit to _this_ neighborhood. It's just not adding up. None of us have been here since Mako's been gone.

Jinora raised her head upwards to the sky thoughtfully, and after a moment she sighed, "I'll admit that it's a little strange."

"Yeah!" Ikki piped up, making a fist and pounding it into her other hand, "So, what could Korra be up to?"

"It's really none of our business," Jinora replied, attempting to leave again, but Meelo pulled her back.

"I said before, I'm not letting you go until we get to the bottom of this!" Meelo snapped as he pulled her down the street, his gaze fixed on Asami.

Again, Jinora uttered something under her breath, Meelo not hearing what she had said. Korra had just disappeared around another corner. Following quietly behind, Asami came up to the edge of the building and looked around carefully. Korra had stopped, and was now standing in front of an old traditional apartment building that looked like it needed some repairs—clearly it was uninhabited.

"So _this_ is Mako's house?" Ikki asked Jinora with a tone of uncertainty, turning to face her.

A trivial frown was on the eldest air bender's face as she took in the building where the famous 'Bending Brothers' once lived. "Yeah."

"Why would Korra want to come here?" Ikki asked,

A slight frown marred the otherwise flawless face of Asami, "That's what we're here to find out."

Asami leapt upwards onto the roof of the building they were standing at the corner of, the air benders following behind her without complaint, Jinora seeming to forget that she wanted to be elsewhere. Leaping from roof to roof, they paused at the last building and peered down into the paved courtyard of the old apartment building. Korra was walking around to the back of the apartment, carefully pushing aside some overgrown bushes and walking through in a way that she could return, unscathed.

"You two stay here, Jinora and I are going to follow Korra; We'll meet you back here soon. And stay quiet."

Ikki and Meelo nodded in understanding.

Jumping down into the paved courtyard out front, Asami beckoned Jinora to follow. She landed quietly beside her and peered intently at the side of the house.

"If we're going to follow, we had better be quick and as quiet as possible," Jinora told Asami softly, "We don't know when she'll be back."

Asami nodded and made her way around the side of the apartment where Korra had traveled. She pushed aside the branches and stepped over the leaves as silently as she could manage, Jinora not far behind. Emerging on the other side, Asami glanced about the area nervously. There was no doubt that Mako's apartment had been empty and unkempt for a long time, as the garden she saw was almost a jungle with weeds.

"Asami," Jinora interrupted, "There's Korra's bag."

Following her gaze, Asami saw Korra's bag lying on the back step in front of the back entryway. Listening carefully, Asami made sure that Korra wasn't nearby before quickly sneaking up to the bag and opening the flap.

"What are you doing, Asami?" Jinora hissed from behind her, running up as well, "This is risky; she could find us at any moment."

"Be quiet for a minute, will you?" she whispered as she peered at the contents of the bag.

A mobile from the hospital, a vile of spirit water, bandages, a wallet, and two large books were inside. Reading the titles on the spines, Asami observed that they were about the history and physics of bending. This was getting stranger by the second… The contents of the bag didn't take up much of its total capacity and quite a lot of space was left over.

"Asami," Jinora whispered to her, "Footsteps."

Quickly Asami shut the bag and both leapt back away from it, taking up a hiding spot within some bushes. Peering out carefully through the leaves, both of them saw Korra exit the apartment with a number of items held in her arms. Kneeling down on the veranda, Korra laid the items gently on the ground and opened up her bag.

At that moment, the mobile within Korra's bag began to ring, and she pulled it out quickly and answered it.

"Hello," she said somewhat solemnly, then nodded, "Mmhmm… Alright, let him know that I'll be there soon… No, I'm not too far, just picking up a few things and I'm just packing up. In the meantime, can you see to it that he is showered off and fed? I don't think he's had anything to eat since lunchtime yesterday. He was unconscious after Katara dealt with the problem that came up… Thank you, Izumi. I'll see you in a bit… Okay, goodbye."

Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, Korra placed the mobile back into her bag and began to put the items she had collected from Mako's apartment into it as well. She put them inside with a delicate touch, like she did not want to damage anything. From the distance that she and Jinora were at, Asami found that she couldn't tell what most of the items were, but clearly recognised two folded sets of clothing.

Korra finished packing up the bag, and after closing it, slung it onto her shoulder. She closed the door to the apartment and locked it, obviously having kept her set of keys, carefully before heading back to the side of the house, carefully making her way back through the underbrush with ease. Asami and Jinora waited until she was completely gone before straightening up.

"Well, that was strange," Jinora commented, air bending the dirt off her clothes, "You were right, she has been acting oddly."

"Yeah. She has." Asami replied wearily, "It's just very unlike her to hide things from me."

Jinora closed her eyes, "Perhaps she feels it's something she's unable to confide in you. Everyone has secrets that they don't wish to share."

"You think that's it?" Asami asked, putting her hands on her hips, a confused expression on her face.

"I have a theory…" she pondered quietly to herself, "But even to me it doesn't entirely fit. We're missing too much information."

"I'm probably just worrying too much. We should head back now anyway. No doubt Ikki and Meelo are getting anxious." Asami said as she stepped out from behind the bush and into the yard.

"Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

Korra opened the door to Mako's room, greeting him with a soft. He had been showered and cleaned, a fresh hospital gown and his damp jet-black hair told her as much; a tray that had the remnants of a meal scattered on it, lay on his lap. Mako himself was holding a bowl, prodding the inside with his chopsticks in an investigative manner, shoving aside food he didn't like, and probing around for anything good that was left over. Korra watched his behavior with interest—He'd never been a particularly fussy eater, but it seemed he didn't care much for the hospital meals. Not that she held it against him.

"Sorry I kept you waiting," she said cheerfully, going over to him and resting her book bag on the bed side table, "I see that they got you some food—that's good. Did you sleep at all while I was gone?"

"A little," he replied absently, setting down the bowl and chopsticks, "Where were you?"

"Just wanted to grab a few things, that's all," Korra replied happily, not wanting to state that she had been going through things at his old apartment, "I brought something for you too. –Are you done eating?"

"Mhm."

Korra took the tray from his lap and carried it over to the door, setting it outside and off to the right—a nurse would come and pick it up later. Turning around, she closed the door behind her and walked up to Mako once more. She noticed his amber eyes were fixated on her every move. Turning her back to him, she opened her bag and withdrew the set of clothing that she had taken from his apartment.

"I know those hospital gowns feel dreadful on your skin, so I brought you some clothes—thought they would be more comfortable," she told him, laying them on his lap, "They'll probably be a little baggy on you, seeing as you've still got a lot of weight to regain, but I'm sure you'll recognise it.

Mako said nothing as he took the folded garments in his hands, feeling the fabric in underneath his finger tips, an unreadable expression on his face. He ran his fingers over the two golden buttons at the lapel to his coat, running his fingertip along the now thread bare coat in a thoughtful and memory-invoking manner. Korra wondered what he was thinking of at that moment, his long eye lashes preventing her from reading any emotion behind his amber orbs.

"I'll step out of the room so you can change," she said, walking over to the other side of his bed, drawing the curtains shut.

"You've seen me naked plenty of time before Korra, why the sense of decency now?" Mako asked flatly, though he knew the answer to his own question.

Korra chose to ignore his question, rolling her eyes slightly and snorting. A moment later she replied simply with, "Just give me a shout when you're ready."

Korra closed the door behind her, and waited patiently, leaning up against the door. The halls were rather quiet that day—it was not nearly as busy as it had been just last year. Republic City's hospital had been completely inundated with victims of Amon and his Equalist faction. Korra had been one of the very few seriously injured during the botched coup on an Equalist rally. Since then, Republic City had returned to normal, Amon and his Equalists were not completely eradicated but laying on the low, Korra had recovered and no longer was there the threat of an all out war between benders and non benders. The chaos had diminished as things settled out and the hospital was now peaceful as it should be—also a lack of Bolin and the air bender kids tended to help matters.

"Korra," Mako's voice came from the other side of the door.

Smiling at the sound of her name escaping his lips, she reentered the room, once again closing the door behind her. She looked over at Mako, who seemed to have had no trouble changing clothes, however—Korra laid a hand over her smiling lips so that she wouldn't be tempted to chuckle. Once the feeling had passed, she lowered her hand and cleared her throat slightly.

"Mako, your pants are on backwards," she said as politely as she could, managing to keep the amused tone out of her voice.

The young fire bender growled and retracted his legs from his pants, allowing them to fall to his feet. After a moment of struggling, he managed to get them rotated around his ankles so that he could slide his slender legs out through the pants once more. Once he'd managed to put his pants on the right way he flopped down on the bed, smirking slightly at the woman before him. She returned his smirk, mused at his silliness.

Walking over to the edge of the bed, Korra picked up the discarded hospital gown, tossing it into a dirt clothesbasket, she went and sat down on the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes. Swinging her legs up over the side, she took a cross-legged sitting position opposite Mako.

"Ready?" she asked, about to reach out and remove the bandage around his left hand, but Mako reached over at the same time as Korra, both their fingers lingering over the ties on the end of the knot. Korra felt a spark run up her arm when her fingers met with his briefly, brushing up against the rough skin on his right hand. She quickly withdrew her hand, avoiding looking into his eyes that had flown to her face when their skin had met.

After a moment Mako untied the bandage from his left hand, and then the other, letting them unwind fully before he gathered it up in his lap. He let it rest for a moment, feeling the gauze between his fingertips before offering it to her. Taking it gently, she folded it up tidily after his hands had returned to resting on his knees, where he sat silently as before. It was a psychological thing, she knew; he took off the bandage in order to give him a little sense of independence, and she was aware that he probably needed that reassurance.

"Alright then," she spoke steadily, laying the bandage beside her, "Let's begin."

"…Wait."

Korra paused, withdrawing her hands again for the second time; a vaguely worried expression came across her face, "What is it, Mako?"

For a moment Mako said nothing, but merely turned his head so that he was facing the floor. He licked his lips, and then inhaled a little, then let it out again. There was another short silence before he spoke.

"I'm sorry," he muttered faintly.

Korra blinked, so bewildered by Mako's words, all she could do was stare. Had she just heard correctly? Had Mako just apologised? Her brows knitted together in worry; the Mako she had known had only ever apologised when he felt he'd disappointed those that mattered most to him.

"Whatever for?" she asked quietly, knowing that she probably sounded confused.

"For what happened yesterday…with my losing control… it shouldn't have happened," he replied, still not meeting her turquoise gaze. "I couldn't control my anger," he stated gruffly, and after a moment's pause, "I'm sorry."

Korra thought a moment about reaching out and grabbing his hand, but decided against it, knowing that that was probably going too far at this point. He still didn't entirely trust himself, and she didn't want to destroy the currently fragile relationship they shared. She smiled sadly instead, and kept her hands in her lap.

"It's not your fault," she replied, shaking her head slightly from side to side, "It was partially my doing. I think I might have set you off."

Mako continued to face the floor, and after another long silence he spoke again.

"My bending was quite often fueled by anger," he told her, his voice quiet, yet firm and hesitant at the same time, "except for when I was fighting to protect you or Bolin. I thought that anger made my bending stronger, but I guess not that I've lost my bending, I won't be doing any fighting."

The expression on his face told her that he didn't want to talk much about him having lost his bending, but he was telling her anyway; Korra guessed it was because she could relate to it.

"Mako, just because you've had your bending taken away doesn't mean that you can't still protect those whom you love," she told him tenderly, "I may have been assigned to simply get you back on your feet so that you can live on your own again, but ultimately it's _you_ who decides when you want me to leave. If you want me to help you to rebuild your skills so that you can perhaps go back to being in the Police Force, you just have to ask. And I know that there are others who would be willing to help you learn skills that I can't teach you. People want to help you, Mako—you have to understand that. And as far as Bolin, Asami and I are concerned, you are still a member of Team Avatar, and always will be."

She let the silence drag out for a little while, giving Mako ample time to consider her words.

"If you're ready, I would like to start the therapeutic process—if that's still alright with you," she said tentatively, "I've recovered quite a bit of energy since yesterday, and I can go for a longer session if you wish."

"Don't work yourself too hard," he responded, turning his head towards her, opening his eyes. She knew by looking into his amber orbs that he was still thinking about what she had said earlier. She gently laid her fingers on the pressure points in his hands, saying nothing so as to not disrupt his thoughts.

"Just relax," she told him, as she began to bend a vile of spirit water through his tendons, "You don't want a sore back again."

Closing her own eyes, she focused the chakra and sent it out through her fingers, picking up where she had left off the previous day, healing the damage slowly and with care.

Korra's words had touched something within him, making him feel undeserving of her devotion and determination to help him.

He set his jaw as he recalled something Tenzin had once said to him—that if he relied on anger to fuel his bending, it would prevent him from ever growing stronger; and he wondered to himself if it was already too late for him. He should have never allowed himself to lose control, he could have killed Korra, and then who knew what would have happened after that. He should have, on no account, become angry with her…he was the one who had acted out of line. The loss of his bending was entirely his own doing, and he didn't blame Korra at all for what happened—that was why he had asked her to leave the room for a while, he didn't want to take his anger out at her.

He thought of the futile efforts he'd made to fire bend—that was what he had done whenever he became angry. It was his own incompetence that had cost him the power he had been born with, and now it was gone. If he hadn't been so naïve about Amon's power, or so blazè in not acknowledging Korra begging to pull out of the Equalist rally, he then might have never ended up in the situation where he had his bending taken. He need help—all he needed to do was ask for help.

He shouldn't have refused _her_ help.

A memory came to mind as he recalled the first time he had seen Korra bending. Korra had asked Bolin for help, having just watched one of their many Pro-Bending matches and hoping to get some tips on to how to improve her skills. Korra had felt no shame in reaching out and asking for help when she had needed it.

His own response to her eagerness to improve had simply been _'Really Bo, right now?'_

Mako sighed. He just had to ask. That was it—it was so simple, yet why was it so difficult? There had been so many times when he should have asked others for help, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do so.

And even though he no longer had his bending, he had to regain his strength—he had to bring Amon and his Equalists to justice. Even if it meant months of rehabilitation, he would do it.

'_I will bring you down, Amon_,' he through fiercely to himself, his brows knitting together, _'You'll never know what hit you.'_

"Am I hurting you?" Korra asked, and Mako realised that she must have seen the frown on his face.

"No," he replied shortly. After a moment he added reluctantly, "I want you to help me to become strong again."

He didn't need to look up to know that she was smiling.

"Okay," was her response, and he could hear a warmth in her voice that made him relax to some extent. Somewhere inside of him, he had been worried that she would have refused.

"Thank you," he murmured quietly, feeling unworthy of her help.

"Don't worry about it."

A silence fell between them after that, and Mako knew that it was probably to help her concentrate on the process of healing. Her fingertips felt warm against his skin as the spirit water flowed between them, healing his damaged ligaments. The sensation was a strange one—as the injury mended, it felt like it tickled, but not to an intensity where he felt the need to flex his hands to be rid of the reaction. It was a peculiarly enjoyable sensation and the flow of the spirit water caused his mind to feel a little tranquil, a strange feeling of serenity pulling on the corner of his consciousness, trying to get him to relax.

He closed his eyes, his stiffness from the previous day had fought off the effects of the energy flow, but now it descended on him like a thick blanket, and he was no longer as alert as he had been. He felt the urge to move closer to Korra in order to feel the sense of warmth he knew radiated off her—to remind himself that this wasn't just some blissful dream. He couldn't remember the last time he felt as peaceful as he was feeling now.

It seemed too soon that Korra pulled her fingertips away from his hands, the warmth of her gentle bending going with them. The ticklish sensation receded and the dull ache returned to his hands, but not nearly as bad as it had been before. His attentiveness began to fade back, and he couldn't help but feeling bewildered as he reflected on what he had been thinking a few moments back. He shouldn't have let his mind loosen up like that. He opened his amber eyes slowly, blinking away his grogginess.

"I've been at it for just over an hour," Korra said quietly, not having moved at all from the end of the bed—had it really been an hour? It seemed only like minutes, "How do you feel?"

"Better," he looking her in the eye.

"I think after a few more sessions, you'll be released from here," she told him kindly, but sounding slightly sleepy, "Katara said that someone is being sent to come and talk to you about what you know about Amon. They should be here in half an hour or so. You should try and get some sleep in before then."

He nodded mutely.

"When that's done, I'll come back and we'll take a walk around," she said shuffling over to the side of the bed. The weight disappeared as she stood, "and when we come back, I'll start something new with you."

He watched her pick up her belongings from the table beside his bed.

"Korra?" he said as he watched her wrap clean bandages around his hands carefully.

"Mmm?" she asked him gently.

"…I trust you," he stated bluntly.

There was a pause and before he was really aware of what he was doing, his hand gently took hers. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand as he held it, brushing the knuckles, where he could feel one of her many scars resting on the surface of her skin.

"Where's this coming from?" she asked, mystified by his actions, and slightly concerned.

"I just wanted to let you know," he replied simply.

"You should know without me even saying that I trust you too, Mako."

He squeezed her hand slightly before he released it, allowing his own-bandaged hands to rest on his knees.

"You've been through a lot," she told him, "You need your rest."

"Mmm." He said, returning his bony form underneath the sheets. He closed his eyes slowly, sleepiness over coming him.

Her footsteps patted quietly against the floor and the door creaked open.

"I'll see you this afternoon," she said softly before she closed the door gently behind her.

* * *

"Hey kid."

The person who had just entered his room was early—extremely early, his internal clock told him; Mako still half asleep. Because of his interrogator's early entry, he hadn't managed to eat anything since that morning, he found himself extremely hungry, and was becoming more so by the minute.

"Hey Chief," he said smoothly, his hands resting behind his head, a small smile resting upon his handsome features.

"My word," came the familiar stern voice, "We're going to have to plump you up before you're allowed back on the beat!"

Mako found himself smirking, despite himself, "Yeah…I look quite the part of the street rat, don't I?"

"Can't argue with you on that one." Beifong nodded, a slight smirk curling her lips, "Katara wasn't exaggerating when she said you had a lot of beefing up to do."

Mako let out a small laugh at Lin's statement. He winced slightly at the slight pang in his ribs that came to them as a result. His bones still not quite healed completely.

"It seems that you've recovered quite a bit since I saw you last," Lin continued, making her way over to his hospital bed, "I don't know if anyone told you, but I was one of the ones that found you in the woods. You were extremely lucky; we almost thought that you were dead. We were quite worried for you."

Mako couldn't recall anything of the sort, having the scent of the fire lilies as his last clear memory, so he merely responded: "I'm sure."

"Korra worked very hard on keeping you alive when you were brought in. The irony of it all is that she didn't even realize that it was you!" Lin carried on, "I heard she was quite shocked when she found out—"

"Lin. I know why you're here," Mako interrupted, wanting to get the interrogation over with, "I'd let to get it over and done with if I may."

"Very well then," Beifong said thoughtfully before continuing, "Let's just skip the pleasantries. Okay, first question: Where is Amon's hideout located?"

The first question was the first that he could not answer. Mako sighed—it felt like it was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Here's to hoping you have a wonderful holiday season!


	9. Chapter 9

Fade to Black: Chapter Eight

* * *

Last question," Lin read off the sheet of paper that she was holding in her lap, "Are you aware of any plans that Amon was making to attack Republic City?"

A slight thoughtful frown appeared on the face of her comrade as he searched his mind for an answer.

"I recall being talked to, or at least aware of a plan that may have included an attack against Republic City. I can't remember," Mako said after a moment, "My memory is faded when I try to think of when it would be, but I know that it wasn't going to be soon. It has probably been set back even further, now that I have been rendered useless to him."

Lin scrawled some notes down on the sheet of paper before folding it in two, studying Mako's face. The fire bender had been open about anything that he knew, and signs did indicate that parts of his memory were gone, but despite that, he had been helpful where he could. Maybe he didn't know everything about the situation, Lin pondered, or maybe there was a reason for him helping. To be rid of the sentence meant that he could leave Republic City…and the only reason he would leave Republic City…

"Mako."

"Hmm?"

"You're not still bent on revenge, are you?" she asked a little worriedly. After all that had happened, surely now he still wouldn't…

"I am," he replied evenly and tersely.

A heavy sigh escaped Lin as she tucked the sreport safely away in the pouch that she carried her metal cables and supplies in. She put his fingertips together and touched his index fingers to his lips.

"Is that very wise?" she asked after a moment, gazing perceptively at Mako through her steely green eyes.

"I've told nobody the exact circumstances under which I lost my bending," Mako stated coldly, as an aside, "I was going to be used as a tool against Republic City, either that or as a bargaining chip. There was no escaping the fate that I had been branded with."

Lin noted that Mako rubbed the sealed burn marks on his palms as he said this. There was a reason behind her former comrade telling her this, and she listened respectfully to find out how it would be related back to her question.

"The only way out was if I was useless to him, and he would no longer want me as someone to be used against Republic City or the Avatar."

Mako paused and Lin felt her eyes widen in disbelief at what Mako was implying. Useless to Amon? There had only been one way out…? Surely he hadn't…

"I burnt myself. It's true that Amon took away my bending, but by having sealed the points at which I connect to my element, my bending was already deemed ineffective anyway."

Lin sighed, "So that's how it is."

"As long as I am alive, I don't care what happens. I will kill Zolt. I did this solely so that I could escape from Amon and fulfill my goals. No other reason but to survive."

There was a long silence. So he had after all; he had taken his own bending. In comparison to how he had looked when Lin had found him, he was in good condition, but that did not mean that he was in any position to still be pursuing his path for revenge. In his current state, he could never hope to dream of laying a scratch on Zolt. Even with training and time, the most he could become was mediocre, and that was simply not good enough to take on Mako's oldest nemesis. But she knew Mako would not be swayed in his opinion.

Lin stood wearily from her seat and tucked away the chair she had just gotten up off of. She faced Mako, not knowing what to do, "Hatred breeds sadness, Mako. Remember that."

Mako seemed to ignore his piece of advice, and continued like he hadn't spoken at all, "Don't tell Korra."

Another grim pause.

"Alright then, I'll go give this information to the other council members," Lin replied unenthusiastically, "And as you wish, I will not tell Korra. I will, however, tell Tenzin. It will then be up to him who finds out the information of how you came to be in your present state, with the exception of Korra."

Mako nodded dumbly in response but said nothing more as Lin turned to leave.

"I hope you get well soon, kid," Lin said before closing the door behind her.

'_In both mind and body,'_ she added inwardly.

* * *

Asami threw open the doors to the hospital, feeling completely livid. The news that Mako was Korra's patient had only sounded worse and worse the more she thought about it—and having the whole walk from Narook's to the hospital to think about it, it was very bad news indeed. She calmed herself after the doors had swung shut behind her, a few people staring at her as a result of her ostentatious entrance, and knowing that if she did not act lady-like, she would not be treated with respect, resulting in her being thrown from the building.

Candidly, as if nothing was wrong, she walked over the reception desk, trying to act natural, despite the curious stares from the people in the hospital lobby. The woman behind the desk turned towards her and gave a slight bow.

"How may I help you today?" she asked politely.

"Hi," she said, smiling sweetly, "I'm here to visit Mako. I was wondering if you could tell me what room he's in?"

The receptionist turned to the computer on her desk and flicked through a few files, "Sorry miss, but we don't seem to have anyone by that name checked in."

Asami frowned; Mako was here—Bolin had said he'd confronted Korra this morning and she had turned him away. If Bolin knew, and Korra had not denied the claims, but merely sent him from the vicinity, then the facts were most likely true—therefore the receptionist was lying.

"Well, then perhaps I could see Avatar Korra?" she asked, just as politely, but an icy undertone escaped her.

"I'm sorry," the receptionist smiled brightly, but an annoyed edge was laced in the reply, "Avatar Korra is very busy at the moment and I don't know when she will be available next."

Asami growled mentally to herself—she was going to see Mako by tomorrow at the very latest. There had to be a way in which she could find out what room he was in. She hadn't marched all the way up here only have her trip turn out fruitless.

"Oh, that's too bad—" she told the receptionist in a saddened tone, suddenly feeling faint. There was a minor rushing sensation as the blood drained from her head, her body falling to the side, landing on the floor with a flump.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed at her soulless body, "Are you alright?"

A couple of medics were standing nearby and they turned towards the sound of the receptionist's voice. She quickly waved them over. The two medics rushed over and bent over her body, calling at her, checking for responses.

"Somebody call Avatar Korra. She's in room 221!"

Asami blinked her eyes open slowly, pretending to be confused over what had happened. Staring up at the two healers she squinted slightly, forcing her eyes to bring them in and out of focus.

"Are you alright?" one of the healers asked her as she slowly sat up, holding her head like she had a headache, a groan escaping her.

"Yeah…" she murmured tiredly, as the other healer helped her to her feet.

"What happened?" the receptionist asked sounding confused.

"She fainted," one of the two healers replied, mistaking the receptionist's literal question and interpreting as she was asking what happened to Asami.

"Perhaps you had better go lie down," one of the healers spoke kindly to Asami, who nodded dumbly.

She smirked inwardly as she was led into the main part of the hospital, a supportive arm wrapped around her. Now that she knew what room Mako was in, it wouldn't be difficult to sneak away and go pay him a visit after the healers had left her to rest. She kept up the façade about being tired and confused, acting like she had no idea why she had fainted. This was going to work out nicely…

* * *

"Well, then" Mako heard Korra announce as she opened the door to his room, "How did the questioning go?"

He slowly sat up as she asked the question and shrugged in response. Other than not being able to answer about a third of them, it hadn't been too bad. He supposed worse people than Lin could have come and demanded answers out of him—he was actually quite surprised that the council hadn't sent Saikhan in for the job, but that would probably come eventually. When Katara had talked to him the other day, she sounded skeptical when he told her of his erased memories—there would probably be some high ranked police officer who would double and triple check the validity of his claims.

"Sorry it took so long, but you know how Lin is," she said as she was drawing near to him, "I bet you're feeling pretty hungry at this point."

"A little," he said with indifference, even though he was ravenous. His stomach decided to contradict his words at that moment by grumbling loudly—he felt the back of his neck get warm.

A quiet giggle could be heard from Korra and it sounded somewhat stifled, Mako decided to ignore her and pulled back the covers of his bed, swinging his legs over the edge.

"Well, your body seems to think otherwise," she said with a gentle laugh, "Come on, let's go grab some food."

Standing up, he braced his feet against the floor, the familiar dizziness coming to his head as he stood, his perception completely thrown off. Korra came and took his arm carefully and he felt the world steady slightly, as he let her hold onto him without complaint. They adjusted the position as he bent his arm at the elbow and offered it to her, allowing her to link her arm with his. He was reminded of the way lovers walked arm in arm down the streets of Republic City and firmly brushed the thought aside. To anyone who didn't understand the situation it would appear that they were a couple, but he didn't care what strangers thought—and his old acquaintances would soon come to know of the circumstances anyways.

Korra led him out into the hall, carefully leading him through the doorway, and he remembered with embarrassment how hard the doorframe had felt against his head—he was not in a hurry to repeat that accident again. She led him on carefully and certainly, not letting him crash into anything, and leading him out of the way when medics passed by them. Sometimes he lost his footing, stumbling on occasion, and he found his other hand grasping her arm reflexively, to keep him from falling. Not once had she let him fall, and he found that navigating was easier when she helped him.

"Things may seem a little wobbly right now, but eventually you'll be able to get around without becoming dizzy. You're doing great so far, but you've only been here for two days, and while you have grown used to this a bit, it's not going to go away any time soon," she was telling him now as they turned around the corner to where he remembered the elevator being, "Don't forget that while getting around at the smooth-floored hospital isn't that bad, elsewhere is another matter."

"For example?" he asked her, not really knowing what to say to her. He wasn't too good at conversation, only saying what he needed to, nothing else.

"Like the pavement on the streets is rough," Korra responded contemplatively, "and old cobblestones have all these protruding edges."

"I see."

"But I'm glad that you've gotten hold of the basics," she told him in a cheerful tone, "Apart from dizziness. Lack of balance and lack of perception, you're doing very well as far as moving around goes. You don't seem to have any difficulty eating with chopsticks, either."

Mako smirked inwardly at himself, remembering the first meal they had brought him. Luckily they had assumed he would be fine on his own, so he was alone when he had been eating and poking himself with the food he was trying to insert into his mouth.

Korra came to a halt and he stopped abruptly as a result, automatically reaching to brace himself against her, but he merely heard the quiet beep that signified she had pushed the button for the elevator.

"Now, tell me," she said as there was a quiet 'ping' indicating that the elevator arrived, "What would you like for lunch?"

Mako entered the elevator, being cautious not to trip as he entered, and thought for a moment. He didn't really care what he was given to eat, as long as he was given something.

"Anything's fine," he replied, shrugging slightly, "Just nothing sweet."

* * *

Reminding Mako of the rough edge between the elevator and floor, Korra led him carefully outside. She was infinitely more impressed with his cooperation and was actually having a pleasant time chatting with him. While their 'conversation' was simple, it was more of a conversation she had ever had with Mako. Leading him by the arm, she walked to the right this time, opposite the gardens and was about to enter a hallway that led to the cafeteria when someone called out to her.

"Korra!"

Stopping, she felt Mako jolt slightly as he always did when she halted, and she looked over her shoulder. The receptionist behind the desk, Izumi, was waving her over, a worried expression on her face.

"Stay here for a moment," Korra instructed Mako, leading him over to a wall so that he could rest his hand against it, "I'll be back in a second."

Once she was sure that Mako was not overcome by unsteadiness, she turned about and walked over to the desk, a questioning look on her face. The receptionist looked quite concerned.

"Korra, something happened about twenty minutes ago that I thought I should bring to your attention," Izumi said nervously as Korra stopped in front of the desk, "I was about to send someone for you, but that won't be necessary now."

"What happened?" she asked, resting her arms on the high desk, a frown coming to her face.

"Well, a girl with long black hair—that fell beside her face—and green eyes came in, asking to see Mako," she told Korra seriously, fidgeting uncertainly, "When I told her that nobody was registered under that name, she asked for you. I told her that you were busy, knowing that the news of Mako's return is supposed to remain secret, however after that I don't remember what happened."

Korra's frown deepened as the receptionist continued.

"The next thing I knew, there were two medics helping her off the floor—we were simply talking and the next minute, she had fainted," Izumi finished, "They were took her to a room to lie down. I just thought I should tell you about the girl who wanted to see your patient."

Korra sighed heavily, slightly angry but knew that her irritation would come to nothing, "Thank you, Izumi; what you told me was very important. I want you to arrange it to have Mako's room moved please, preferably to another floor all together—is there anything left on the fifth floor?"

"The fifth floor?" Korra could understand the receptionist's confusion. The fifth floor's rooms were reserved for severe and extremely abnormal cases. Only specially trained healers were permitted up on the fifth floor and a special card key was needed in order to access it. If there were to be any visitors, they had to be specially escorted by a medic, "There are two rooms available: one next door to the staff lounge, and one down the hall and around the corner from the elevator."

"Put him in the one next to the staff lounge," Korra said after a moment's consideration, "Thank you for doing this."

"Of course," the woman smiled up at her.

"Also, I wouldn't be surprised if that young woman came back. If she enters the hospital, let me know before she approaches reception," Korra told her as she thought of a plan in her head, "She'll have some sort of excuse to come into the hospital. Allow her to do so; I'll deal with the rest."

"Alright I will," Korra smiled down at Izumi, glad that there were such helpful and kind people in the world, unlike Asami who could be completely meddling and irritating.

"Thank you," Korra said thankfully, giving a respectful bow, "Now, I have a patient who is probably impatiently waiting my return. Later!"

Walking back over to Mako, she thought about what the receptionist had said. The description of the girl who had come inquiring about Mako was most likely Asami—it seemed like Bolin had leaked the secret already, which was much quicker than she had anticipated. She came up to Mako, who had taken up leaning on the wall to look less out of place.

"We have a problem," she told him with a sigh.

He straightened up and offered her his arm, which she took, not really paying too much attention as she led him down the hall again.

"A problem?" he asked her, his voice betraying no hints of emotion save for the questioning tone.

"Well, word's out on the street that you're back," she replied, frowning in displeasure, "Asami apparently came and tried to pay you a visit, and when she was not permitted in, she fainted."

"Fainted?" he echoed without conviction.

"Oh you know how she is," Korra growled to herself, "I have no idea how much information she managed to get, if any. However, I have a feeling that she'll be back, and will at least try and find out what room you're in. I'm having you moved to another room on the fifth floor, that can only accessed by visitors if they have an escort staff."

"Bolin has a loud mouth," Mako muttered to himself in a displeased manner.

"I'll say," Korra growled in agreement, "I mean I knew they would eventually find out, but I didn't think that soon. You've only been here for three days."

"Hm."

"So, here's the question. We can't keep you here forever; there are other people who may need the space you're occupying, so as soon as you're well, I'm taking you home," Korra continued with a resigning sigh, "But that won't be for another couple days at the very most…and there will be people wanting to see you in the meantime. It's up to you to decide when you want visitors, if at all. I can try, but I don't know if I will be able to hold them all off until you're released. After all, these are benders we're dealing with."

There was a long pause as Mako thought things over, and Korra led him a long patiently, knowing not to push him, because he was going to give her an answer eventually. She led him past a few more corridors and into the hospital cafe, nodding in acknowledgment at a few acquaintances that she passed, before joining the noon line for food. Mako didn't stop nearly as abruptly this time, seeming to have gotten slightly used to the practice at this point.

"I suppose it is inevitable," he growled quietly as Korra examined the food, preparing a list to offer Mako, "I don't want to see anyone today…but if it comes to it, I'll be willing to see people tomorrow but only after I've seen Bolin."

Korra turned her head away from the different sandwiches, salads and desserts, "Bolin?"

A ghost of a smile came to Mako's face, "That idiot needs a lecture for opening his loud mouth."

Korra giggled in response, glad to see that there was a small smile on Mako's face. She didn't think that she had ever seen any other kind of smile from him before—he had always had that small crooked grin, and she couldn't recall the last time she had seen him laugh.

"I'll have it arranged," she smiled at him, "Any particular time that you want to see him?"

"I want him in and out before you start healing my hands," he replied curtly.

"Okay," she said with a nod that he couldn't see, before looking over at the food again, deciding to take a salad that she could see from where they were at the line. She opened her mouth to ask Mako what he wanted when he inadvertently cut her off.

"Korra," he said in a cautious tone, as if struggling with whether he should be speaking or not, "…There's something else… I want to ask you something."

* * *

Yayay! I'm back from a super long hiatus! As some of you may or may not be aware i've been working on several other stories, and thus, Fade To black has gone neglected for quite some time. I hope to be back to writing chapters for it on a more regular basis now!


	10. Chapter 10

Fade to Black: Chapter Nine

* * *

"Hopefully over lunch the room will have been prepared," Korra said to Mako in a thoughtful manner, "I really want to get the new rehab started, we've already lost a day with your outburst and all, it would really be bothersome if the room wasn't ready."

Mako said nothing to this, but merely watched the closing door of the elevator, as it rumbled shut. At his side, he felt Korra pull away from him for a moment, and there was a quick swish followed by the 'ping' of the floor button.

"The fifth floor can only be accessed with a key card specific to this hospital," Korra explained to him, "While Asami has access to one of the card keys herself, from working in the pharmaceutical branch, seriously, she's a woman of many virtues, she doesn't yet know that you have been moved to another location—and the files still state that you are in room two twenty-one. As for the rest of your visitors—unless they are willing to scale the hospital walls, there should be no way that they can get to you."

"Bo would attempt the hospital walls," he stated, a smirk on his lips, and Korra laughed. There was a musical tone to her laugh that had a softer ring to it, a nice kind of laugh.

"Well, hopefully he won't try anything before tomorrow," she replied, a humorous note in her voice, "I gave him a firm talking to this morning; he seemed pretty dejected by the time he reached the end of the hall."

The elevator blundered to a halt and the doors slid open. Clinging to Korra too much for his own liking, he allowed her to lead him from the small compartment and onto the new floor. It was quieter where they were, and he assumed it was because on the fifth floor only special cases were admitted, and therefore less people.

"You're room is just over here," Korra said brightly as she led him a short distance before slowing to open the door to a nearby room, "Oh good—the room is prepared. Well, this should be good for starting the new exercise today, seeing as you're in a new location and don't have any idea what is where."

"What did you have planned this afternoon?" he inquired, talking a step forward to let her know that he wanted to go and sit on the bed.

He was carefully led over to the edge and he let go of her arm as he sat down on the mattress—noting that it was no softer that the previous one.

"Well," he watched her set something down on the bedside table—a bag of sorts—and withdraw a few items from within it. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he watched her as she scattered the items out between them, "I have here an assortment of different items that were taken from your apartment."

"My apartment?" he raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "You took things from my house?"

"I actually cleaned the whole place four days ago," she replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do—but Mako could hear a small tone of nervousness in her voice, she was afraid he would be angry with her.

He didn't know he felt about her going through the things in his house. He supposed he was a little affronted by the notion, and had a sense of violation of privacy on top of that, but he wasn't exactly angry. She was going to be living with him for a while after he was released from the hospital; she was going to end up in his house again eventually.

"Why did you clean it?" he asked after a moment, deciding not to dwell on the issue, "Lin and the others hadn't even found me."

"I don't know," she replied sounding somewhat confused and baffled—either she was confused by her own actions or she was confused by his lack of annoyance.

He wondered what state she had found the house in when she had entered. To be honest, he hadn't lived there since he'd joined the police force—he had been to preoccupied with work to have the opportunity to return to his apartment all that often.

"I suppose it was just a spur of the moment thing," she laughed nervously, "I'm not really sure what made me do it."

"I see," he replied after a moments pause—it seemed that he would be living back in his former apartment after all, even if he had hoped avoiding doing so at all costs.

He supposed it couldn't be helped, but of course he was _not_ going to mention anything to Korra about it, "We seem to have strayed from the topic of rehabilitation."

"Right," Korra responded after a moment, sounding like she had gotten over the fact that he was not going to be angry with her, "Well, I took these things from your apartment in hopes that you will be able to recognise them easier. That's part of what we'll be doing—using your touch to identify certain objects. You'll be blind folded for this activity. It's to help you regain perspective and feeling in your damaged nerves. Then there's this—"

She took his hand in hers and brushed her thumb over the back of it like she had done earlier, sweeping his knuckles lightly. He nodded in return as he remembered his pledge of trust to her, and hers to him.

"Every time I grab your hand, I'll touch your hand like that," she explained, "Your brain will eventually associate that action with me, and then I can grab your hand and you'll know it's me without having to say anything. This can come in handy on missions when we have to remain silent, it will help you recognize that it's me, not an enemy behind you. From now on, I'll always perform that action, so if someone grabs your hand and fails to give you the recognizable sign, you'll know it's not me."

He snickered softly, "What if you forget?"

"I won't forget," her voice was teasing, "But if I do, you have permission to demand who I am and what I'm doing grabbing your hand."

"I'll hold you to that," he said in reply, finding himself smirking in return, though he had no idea why.

"You'll be disappointed if you want to yell at me," she countered, laughing lightly, "Anyway, lets get on with the exercise, shall we?"

He held out his hand as she put a strange, long object in his open palms.

"Tell me what it is," she told him, getting that professional tone in her voice, "My bet is that you won't have a clue what it is."

The corner of his lip twitched a little in amusement—like he was going to lose a bet.

* * *

They spent the rest of the afternoon examining different items from his apartment. Mako had managed to recognise all of them—and Korra had lost the bet, as he correctly identified the first item as a shoehorn. He hadn't even realized that he had owned a shoehorn—that's why it had taken him a few minutes to distinguish what the curved strip of plastic had been. After the shoehorn she had handed him a feather duster, followed by the metal statuette carved in the shape of the three elements used in a pro-bending match.

As the objects came through his hands, he found himself actually having fun. It was almost like a game of sorts, and it hardly seemed like training—but the fact that he realized it was training allowed him to feel like he was putting good use to his time. Sometimes when Korra put an extremely bizarre object in his hands, she would let out a musical laugh at the expression that would come across his face and dare him to guess what it was.

Some of the objects were dead giveaways, like the pair of scissors or the wooden spoon that had come over his palms, but others were more difficult like the shoehorn had been—a small salt dish had been an example. It had been a small little pot, no bigger than his palm, and was completely smooth inside and out, no specific markings to hint at what it was for. It was only after he had sniffed it and detected the slight scent of salt that he recognised it as the small salt jar that his mother had kept in the kitchen for her cooking.

Time had erased the recollections of some of the objects that Korra procured, but she had managed to bring some items that stirred memories that had all but been forgotten. The salt jar in the kitchen, or the pro-bending statuette that he recalled had sat on his bedside table. There had been an old wooden pipe that brought back the memory of his father telling him that it had once belonged to his grandfather. It was amazing what stood out clear in his mind, and what had been forgotten—different memories treasured, while others had been discarded. He didn't know how he felt about the reminders of his past; it made him remember the times he had with his parents, and it also made him feel somber too.

"Okay, this is the last one," Korra announced and he held out his hands expectantly.

Something cold and heavy was dropped neatly in to his hands. He felt it with his fingertips, tracing the edges of the object, noting its texture and bulk. It was cool to the touch, and was made out of metal; one end was long and pointed, with sharp edges and pointed corners, while the other end was clearly a handle, a ring at the end for fastening to a belt or pouch.

"It's some kind of dagger," he told her, holding it out for her to take again, "That one was a little too obvious."

"Oh, I was expecting you to be able to recognize it," she replied, a mischievous hint in her voice, but she did not take back the kunai, "You would lose all my respect for you as a fellow bender if you didn't realize it was a dagger. But this one is special. Tell me what makes it different from a regular daggers."

He paused for a moment then turned the dagger over in his hands once again. The balance of blade to hilt was fine; the edges were sharp and well kept; the handle was smooth and unused from what he could tell. It was when he ran his fingertips over the flat of the blade that Mako came across something unusual.

"There's something written on the side," he said as his fingers ran over the grooves the formed the characters.

"Can you tell me what it says?" she asked him, "It's okay if you can't—I don't expect your fingers to be that sensitive yet, but…"

Running his fingers over the edges, he felt for familiar shapes, something that would give him some indication as to what was written. After a few moments he managed to discern the segment, but while the second part was slightly familiar, he could not make out what it said.

"This part," he told her, brushing his thumb over the interpreted sections, "says 'Made in the Earth Kingdom'. The second part I can't quite make out."

"It says: 'Never give up without a fight'," Korra replied kindly, "Do you know who owned this dagger?"

"Yes…" he replied slowly, holding the kunai in his hands.

He remembered that dagger, now that he realised what it was. His father had shown it to him once, saying that it had been fashioned upon the very same dagger that General Iroh owned.

He closed his hands over the kunai, holding it tightly within his palms, so firmly that it bordered on cutting into his fingers.

"Mako?" he heard Korra say timidly after a few moments, "Is something wrong?"

"No," he replied shortly, sounding colder than he had intended to. After a moment he loosened the grasp on the kunai and offered it back to Korra, "Take good care of it when you're returning it back to my apartment."

He felt the fingers of her hand brush gently over his palms as she took the kunai back. "Of course," her voice was tender.

"Thank you," he responded, and rested his arms on his knees.

"I can be extra careful with the shoehorn too, if you want," she said after a minute, her voice playful again.

He smirked slightly, "That won't be necessary."

* * *

It was mid-evening when Korra left the hospital, and she walked cheerfully down the road, down towards the older part of the local neighborhood, humming a tune and resisting the urge to start skipping down the street. She had felt that the afternoon had gone infinitely better than it had the previous day and she was in a good mood as a result. Of course she could tell that Mako had was still having issues with his pride, but he had been more open to her touch today, and while she wouldn't say he'd entirely warmed up to her yet, he wasn't the cold fish he had been before.

She was rather pleased with the progress they had made—the afternoon walk had gone well, and they actually had a _real_ conversation at lunch, it had been over something unimportant, but the fact that she could at least talk about something was a step forward. The exercise they had gone through most of the afternoon had been fun, and she couldn't help but smile to herself as she thought that Mako probably had enjoyed himself too. He had even smiled a couple times—as much of a smile as you could get from him—and she had found herself teasing him a little like she did to Bolin. Mako had done well with the item identification, she supposed she would have to find some more difficult items for him to identify.

But then there had been the dagger she had handed him that had been engraved with a well known Earth Kingdom detail. That had held significance of some sorts, and she wondered curiously to herself what memories a simple engraved weapon had stirred up in his mind. True to her promise, she was taking extra good care of it, and now she was on her way back to his house to carefully replace his belongings where she had found them.

On her way, she contemplated a number of things. Mako's request that he made at noon was the first thing that drifted to her mind, knowing that it was a tremendous blow to his dignity to even ask her to do what he wanted her to do. It was almost cowardly, and that's what made it even more of a harder request to ask Korra.

Her thoughts also touched briefly on Asami's intrusion into the hospital that afternoon. She knew how to deal with it, but she knew it was most likely going to be ugly, and she was _not_ looking forward to that. She wasn't surprised that Asami hadn't been admitted into the hospital, even though—after a year of training under Katara—she had become a quite talented and notable pharmacist. However, her background did not give her the right to pry into events that were going on in the hospital—they were completely different branches, and other than the exchange of medications, the hospital and pharmacy did not concern each other with the other's business. Korra sighed, Inner Korra making a list of comebacks that she could throw at her ex-best friend.

Well, Asami, she supposed—in a weird way—was still her best friend, despite them getting on one another's nerves and constantly being at each other's throats. It was a strange friendship in which each knew that they could count on the other to be there for them even though they always were arguing. After Mako had been taken from Republic City, she had been very thankful for Asami's support—even though it seemed downright cruel to anyone who didn't know the situation. Nothing felt better than verbally insulting your best friend in order to get over a crisis. They never meant it cruelly, and even though it appeared that way, there was always a kinder, underlying hint that got the message across. That was how their friendship worked.

Arriving in front of the neighborhood where Mako and Bolin had lived, Korra laid her hand on her closed bag, thinking of the contents inside. Again she wondered the significance of the dagger—she hadn't been able to bring herself to ask him while they ate dinner. She walked nonchalantly down the street, knowing that she would not get any answers now, if ever. And after a few minutes, she arrived in front of the old apartment, the old building seeming to stand completely apart from the rest of the neighborhood. There were less people about than usual and she jumped the fence nimbly without being seen. Pushing through the brambles, she came around back, crawling up onto the porch.

Sliding the door open she entered the empty house, the darkness seeming to cloak her in a menacing way. The lights didn't work because it had been nearly two years since Mako had paid his electricity bill for the apartment. She was lucky that the water was still running when she cleaned the house, because it would have made it ten times more difficult if there had been no water. Walking down the semi-familiar halls, she opened her bag and took out the first few items, putting them back in place. The kunai she rested gently on the stand it had been placed on in a weapons cabinet that had been filled with many blades of formidable size and sharpness.

She was replacing the last item, the feather duster, into a hall closet when something caught her eye. Lying on the shelf directly in front of her was a shallow box marked 'music' on the side. Curious, she took the box down from the shelf and sat down on the floor, removing the lid carefully. Inside there were a number of yellowed sheets of paper—sheet music—and a music book lay at the bottom. The notes were all hand written, and maybe had been composed by Mako's mother. Intrigued, she lifted the first sheet out of the box, holding it in the fading light cast through a window nearby and read the title.

_Experimental Tune #9_

A strange title, she thought to herself, perhaps this was a song that the composer had thought of and had wished to edit it later. Having taken some music classes when she was training under the White lotus as a young child, she hummed the different notes to herself. It was a very pretty melody, light and uplifting, but it did need a little work. She set the sheet neatly aside and rifled through the other papers.

Most of the papers were sheet music, all hand written and composed by someone in the household, and as Korra discovered in a bit from one of the first sheets of music, they were indeed composed by Mako's mother. Sometimes she would hum the tune of different pieces, if they were not too difficult, or if an interesting title caught her eye—as was one such case when she came across two of the oldest sheets in the box.

The older of the two did not interest her much, but it was the other that caused her interest to pique. The paper was old and somewhat yellowed, the words written at the top were almost gone, but the black ink that marked the page stood out clearly: _Mako._

That was all that was written on at the very top of the page, and underneath in brackets, scribbled in faded pencil was the word 'lullaby'. Korra glanced at the other piece, and Bolin's name was written on it, but ignoring it she set it aside and looked at the piece that Mako's mother had written for her eldest son. She experimentally hummed the first few bars of the melody, noting how it was in a minor key, the melody beautiful and soft, yet melancholy in a way that lulled Korra into a peaceful state of being, but left her tinted with a trace of sorrow.

She finished humming the tune before gathering up the papers and restoring them back in the box, she prepared herself to leave the household, her cheerful mood dissipated into a somber one, the box of music giving her heaps of things to think about.

* * *

It wasn't until much later in the evening that Korra finally found herself home at the doorstep, opening the door and wandering in wearily. Setting her bag down by the door, she kicked off her shoes and entered her house. About to plod up the stairs and go to bed, despite it being only around nine in the evening, she was halted by a call.

"Korra?" she heard her mother call, "Is that you?"

Stopping and turning about, she walked into the kitchen instead, finding her mother sitting at the table, a steaming mug of hot tea in her hands.

"My word!" her mother exclaimed, looking shocked at her daughter's appearance, "I hardly recognised you Korra! It seems like ages since I last saw you!"

"Ha, ha," Korra replied dryly, sitting down at the table with a sigh.

"Long day at the hospital?" her mother asked concernedly but Korra just shook her head, "Need some hot tea?"

She looked up at her mother, and smiled half-heartedly, "Actually, I think I'd rather enjoy that."

Her mother nodded and stood. Taking a mug from the cupboard she went and poured some hot water into it from the kettle and reached for the container of ginseng tealeaves.

"I've hardly seen you the last couple days, Korra," her mother said warmly, "What has kept you so busy up at the hospital lately?"

Korra felt like she had had the wind knocked out of her—she had forgotten to tell her family all about Mako! Not that she cared what her brother thought about it, or felt that her father was around enough to concern him with it, but she had forgotten to tell her mother. She folded her arms on the table and dropped her head down in them, groaning loudly at her own absentmindedness.

"Um, Mum?" she began, her words muffled from her face buried in her arms, "Do you remember Mako?"

Her mother's confused reply came from somewhere nearby as there was the slight 'thunk' of the mug being set before her, "That boy that you were head-over-heels for? Yes, I remember. He was the one abducted from Republic City."

Korra sat up and pulled her hot chocolate closer to her. "Yeah, he was," she replied in a preoccupied manner, "This is kinda a secret, but three days ago, he was found in terrible condition and brought back here."

"Oh dear," her mother murmured quietly. Whether it was because of Mako's condition, or if she was concerned about how her daughter was taking the matter, Korra didn't know.

"Yeah, well…" Korra stirred her tea slowly, waiting for it to cool so that she could drink it without burning herself, "He's lost his bending…and I offered to rehabilitate him."

Her mother took a sip of her own tea, peering at her daughter perceptively, "I see."

"So that's what I've been doing for the past couple days," she continued without being asked, "It's fairly routine, and it can be fun sometimes, though he is still as stubborn as he was when I first met him."

"Well, as long as he's not treating you badly, I guess I'm alright with the state of affairs," her mother said after a moment, "How do you feel about the situation? You seem to have lost a bit of your usual pep."

"I'm still peppy, mum," Korra smiled faintly, using her mother's description of her personality, "You just see me when I've come home exhausted from energy expenditure. But don't worry about me, I'm happy with what I'm doing right now, I don't think there is any more of a satisfying job than helping someone you care about. I feel I am where I should be."

Her mother was silent for a moment, seeming deep in thought, "Korra, I know I told you many times that even though you care about someone so much, things don't always work out. Things may have turned in your favor, but—"

"I know," Korra replied, staring at the steaming mug of tea, "I know he doesn't return any feelings that I've ever had for him, so I'm just trying to be helpful. I promised him that I would do my best to be…"

"I'll just be glad when this is over," her mother sighed with relief, "After all, isn't he a criminal?"

"What? No! He was abducted by a criminal," Korra replied, daring to take a sip from the mug her mother had set out for her, "My hopes is that he will be cooperative enough so that he will be of any potential charges; as far as I know, he hasn't done anything to betray the trust of either me as the Avatar or Republic City."

From over the rim of her glass, Korra saw her mother purse her lips in disapproval—Korra's mother had a deep loyalty towards the safety of Republic City and disapproved of any doings that would harm the inhabitants.

Korra rested her mug back down on the table, "As for when it's over…"

"Mmm-hmmm?" her mother narrowed her eyes, realising that Korra was going to tell her something that she would most likely be unhappy to hear.

"It won't be over when he gets released from hospital," Korra said with a sigh, then added a meek finish, "Part of the rehabilitation is getting him used to his domestic surroundings."

"Be a little more specific, Korra," the tone was impatient and curt, "What do you mean by getting him used to his domestic surroundings?"

"Well…" Korra started uneasily, knowing that her mother's reaction, whatever it would be, would not be nearly as bad as her father's, who protected his daughter to an extreme. Any boy who spoke to Korra would be immediately interpreted as trying to seduce his little girl, and would be scared off in an instant. Bolin was an exception, given that her father had seen her bash Bolin over the head for doing something stupid.

"Well what?" her mother raised an eyebrow at her daughter's hesitance.

"You're not going to like this," Korra replied in a way that gave the impression that she had swallowed some disgusting medicine, "But it means that I am going to be moving in with him for a while."

"What?" her mother asked crossly, "I won't hear of it!"

"It's only for a while, Mum!" Korra exclaimed, immediately on the defensive, "Mako is so independent that I'm sure he'll ask me to leave a few weeks after he moves back into his home."

"He'll be the one who dismisses you?" her mother had crossed her arms in a stubborn manner that Korra had picked up in habit, "What if you're wrong, Korra? What if he does return your feelings? What if he doesn't want you to leave?"

Korra let out a bitter laugh at the mere notion, "Are you kidding me? This is Mako, someone who hasn't let a single person, asides from his brother, care about him, since his family was killed. I'll be fine, really."

Her mother opened her mouth to argue further, but instead grabbed her mug of hot tea and took a few gulps, something Korra knew she did to prevent herself from saying something she would regret.

"I don't know, Korra," her mother said after she had put her mug back down, "People who isolate themselves from others are usually the loneliest."

"Then my staying with him should do him good," she glowered at her mother from across the table, her mother returning a similar-featured glower, "I'm doing this for the good of Republic City."

"I fail to see how this can help Republic City, Korra," her mother countered.

"Mako has lost everything…_everything_," Korra emphasised, "From his family to his bloodline ability, he even lost a major source of power for him. He has nothing left to lose. He can help us, but only if we help him—help him and trust him. I trust him, Mum, and I'm going to move in with him after he's been released from hospital. I am no longer seeking your approval, I am doing it regardless of what you—or Dad—think."

Her mother sighed wearily and held her temples in her hands, "I wish you weren't as stubborn as your father."

Korra brought her nearly empty mug to her lips to hide the triumphant grin she wore on her face.

"Do you know even know where he lives?" her mother asked, and Korra nodded, "What condition is residence in? I will not have my daughter living in less than suitable conditions."

"Cleaned it out four days ago," Korra replied, finishing the last of her mug of tea, "It's livable, and clean, but the yard needs some major work."

"I see," her mother still did not approve, "Accommodation? Where were you planning on sleeping?"

"Well, I have to be available at all times, seeing as there will no longer be healers from the hospital tending to him at night," Korra replied evenly, "There is a futon and extra bedding, I was going to set it up in the corner of his room."

Her mother groaned wearily, "Your father is _not_ going to be happy about this at all."

"Probably not," Korra stated matter-of-factly, glad that she was not the one who was going to be breaking the news to him.

Standing up, Korra put her mug by the sink and stretched, "I'm going to bed, my energy is low and I'm feeling tired."

"Try to wake up early tomorrow morning, your father is coming home from an extended stay in the Northern Water tribe late tonight and I want you to see him before he leaves for the second half," her mother told her before her daughter left the kitchen.

"Okay," Korra replied, smiling, "Thanks for letting me do this, mum."

Her mother waved her off, letting Korra know that it was the last thing she wanted to let her daughter do, but did not have the time, energy, or willpower to argue. Climbing up the stairs to her bedroom, Korra found the cheerful feeling returning to her, and the lullaby, which Mako's mother, Naoki had written for Mako, was playing quietly in her head.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night that Korra woke up. She blinked groggily awake and rolled onto her side, peering at her alarm clock. It read '_1:38_' and Korra pulled the blanket over her head, wondering what had caused her to stir. Listening carefully she could hear to voices shouting from somewhere downstairs.

"This is no longer on the table for arguing," her mother's clear voice hollered, "I am not asking you what we should do; she is going to take care of this boy, and that's final! And she will do it with my full support, regardless of what you think!"

A small thankful smile crossed Korra's face, recognizing the similarity between the words she had spoken to her mother and the words her mother spoke to her father. And with the comforting thought that she could continue unopposed—and ignoring the continued shouts from downstairs—she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.

* * *

Review please!


	11. Chapter 11

Fade to Black: Chapter Ten

* * *

"What?" Bolin looked up at Korra in an inquisitive manner, seaweed noodles hanging from his mouth in a gauche manner, "Mako wants to see _me_?"

Crossing her arms impatiently, the chocolate haired girl sighed in annoyance, "Yes, Bo, Mako wants to see _you_."

Bewildered, Bolin stood up from the table they occupied at the noodle shop, slurping up the noodles as he did so, leaving the half-finished bowl behind. It sure was easy to find Bolin; Korra noted inwardly, he was practically living at Narook's; when on earth did he go training?

"Come on," Korra stated impatiently, taking out a small wallet and even paying for her friend's noodles, "Let's not keep him waiting!"

"Wait!" Bolin exclaimed suddenly, and Korra rolled her eyes impatiently, turning to face him.

"What is it, Bolin?" she sighed irritably, if this took too long, then the healing procedure would be pushed back too far into the day and the whole schedule would thrown out of whack.

It did not help that she was in a particularly grouchy mood at the moment, having just left her house. She had, as her mother instructed, woken up early to see her father off on the second part of his extended stay in the Northern Water Tribe, and needless to say he had gotten into a stern talking-to with her. Having been used to arguing with her father for years, she knew that no matter what he told her to do, she was not going to listen to him, and he knew that no matter what he did, he could have no influence over her. It was a wonder why they even argued sometimes, knowing that the result would not be any different—her mother claimed that it was a kind of sport between them. But despite arguing being a sport, it still left her grouchy with her father for being so…unreasonable!

"There's something that I need to get for Mako," he said jumping up, not even thanking her for paying for his meal, "It'll only take a moment, Kor. I just need to stop by Air Temple Island for a moment."

"Only for a moment?" she questioned doubtfully.

"Yep!" Bolin nodded.

"Fine, fine, I'll wait for you here," she said with a resigning sigh, "Just hurry."

Without even giving her a response, Bolin leapt off down the road with such speed that one would have thought he was an brown splash of paint that flickered on a shop wall for only an instant.

"I can't believe Mako would wait this long to see me! It's not like him to be scared or anything—unless he's heard how strong I've gotten and he knows what's coming to him—"

The doors of the elevator closed and Korra swiped her card-key through the slot while listening to Bolin ramble. He had been talking for the last little bit, complaining about Mako and how he should have been seen earlier. All things considered, Korra was glad that Bolin hadn't managed to pass her the other day. He seemed to have forgotten all mention of Mako's injuries and was blathering on about Mako's condition like he had only received a scratch.

"Bolin," Korra said after a moment, cutting her friend's digression short, "There's something you need to know…about Mako that is."

Turning his head towards her, he studied her curiously with his grassy green eyes, clearly concerned by the downheartedness that had suddenly appeared on her face.

"Yesterday I wouldn't tell you what was wrong with Mako," she started, not knowing how to form her words, "Well, I talked to him, and he requested to see you—but he wants you to know what happened to him before you see him…. I have permission now, from my patient, to reveal his condition—it was actually a request…and I think it was very difficult for him to ask me to tell you…"

Bolin stared at her for a moment, still looking confused by her solemn manner, "What is it, Kor?"

"Mako has lost his bending," she stated after a moment.

"Lost? As in—" Bolin started off hesitantly, seeming to find the news almost incomprehensible.

"As in he can't bend; his connection to his element is gone, he'll probably never be able to bend again," she stated so bluntly that Bolin was silent with shock for a while.

She thought she had gotten over Mako's situation, that it didn't matter anymore, that the only thing she could do was help him; her heart told her otherwise and sympathy towards Mako seemed to tear her spirit in two. Fists clenching slightly in frustration, Korra cursed herself again and again—maybe if she had stopped Amon from capturing him, maybe if she could have helped him then…

"Please, Bolin," she whispered quietly, "You know Mako better than I do, and you know that he's probably a bit touchy over his current state. Please act normal, and don't be sorry for him, because I know that will only make him angry and hate the position he's in. I don't want that…"

Bolin turned his head and looked at the floor, his face grim; his hand was resting against the pocket of his brown coat, where the gift for Mako was being carefully kept. Neither of them said anything more as the elevator door opened on the fifth floor. Stepping out, Korra led Bolin the short distance to Mako's room, stopping in front of the door. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she forced her sorrow to dissipate—it was a lack of self-control on her part, and she firmly reminded herself that tears and sadness would not help Mako.

Opening the door she walked in, a smile on her face though she probably needn't have bothered. Mako's bed was titled up a little, so he was in a reclined sitting position when they entered. The rays of the fading sunrise were shining down on him, somewhat silhouetting his form against the window. The bandages around his hands were clean and he had already been showered and garbed in his own clothes.

"Hey, Mako," Korra said in a semi-cheerful tone. She supposed she could have done better, but then it was a mix between cheerful and her regular voice, so she supposed she sounded more serene than anything. As long as she didn't sound depressed, that was fine.

"Korra," he acknowledged evenly, then after a short pause, "Hey…Bro."

Beside her, Korra saw Bolin smile weakly, a saddened look on his face, but she knew him well enough to know that he would not do anything stupid.

"Oi, bro," he replied lightly, with an undertone of empathy, "It's been a while. I owe you some pain, you know?"

Mako smirked faintly, "I owe you some too, idiot, opening your mouth. Is there anyone left in Republic City who doesn't know I'm here?"

Bolin snorted good-naturedly, "Oi, oi, you caused a bigger fuss when you were taken."

"Only because you made such a big deal out of it," Mako retorted, a crooked grin on his face.

"I promised Kor that I'd bring you back," Bolin stated dutifully, the tension seeming to slowly fade away, "You have some nerve to let someone else do the job for me."

Mako snorted in answer to this, "I wouldn't have let _you_ drag me back anyway."

Bolin let out a noise of protest. "Grrr! Beggars can't be choosers!"

Korra smiled as the bickering began. It was like it had been before—like it had been when they were together as a probending team. It was supposed to be this way—this was how it should be: Bolin and Mako squabbling, while she stood off to the side, shaking her head at them, merely smiling at their childish behaviour.

The fight seemed to have been brought to a stalemate. Bolin was glaring fiercely at Mako and Mako's expression clearly showed that he was doing the equivalent of glaring back. She crossed her arms, knowing that this was the point where she would step in and tell them to stop being such idiots.

"Alright you two, calm down," she smiled, cutting into the tension between them, "Honestly, you haven't come in contact with one another for nearly two years and the first thing you do is fight?"

"He started it," Bolin pouted, looking away from her in a sulky manner.

Mako rolled his amber eyes.

"Oh, bro," Bolin piped in suddenly, "I almost forgot. I brought you something."

From within his pocket, Bolin drew forth the gift that he had brought for Mako. Having not seen it before, Korra watched curiously as he unwound an old cloth from around it. In his hand, he held the a tattered red scarf—the one that Mako used to wear—the one that made him feel safe, the one that was the last piece of his father that he had left.

Mako held out his hand expectantly as Bolin approached the bedside. He put the scarf in his older brother's hand and took a step away as Mako ran his fingers over its threadbare edges, saying nothing as he did so. Even though he said nothing, Korra knew that he was moved, despite his emotionless expression refused to show it. She smiled contentedly.

"You better get used to wearing it, huh?" Bolin grinned, putting his arms behind his head lazily, grinning broadly.

A smirk crossed Mako's face and he took the ends of the fabric, raising the scarf to wrap around his neck in the same manner that it had always done.

"Thank you," he answered back, a grateful tone in his voice, "I'm surprised you've managed not to lose it, after, an idiot is still an idiot."

A flame seemed to erupt in Bolin's eyes and he struck an overdramatic confronting pose, the arguing rekindled, "We'll see about that!"

Before either of them could get another word out, there was a knock at the door; Korra, Bolin and Mako turned as the door opened. Another of the hospitals healers poked her head in the door and looked at the trio, raising an eyebrow slightly at Bolin's theatrical stance. She quickly turned her attention to Korra.

"Avatar Korra?" she asked, and Korra nodded in reply, "Izumi, the receptionist, wanted me to let you know that the girl from yesterday has just arrived."

Korra straightened up and nodded firmly, "Thank you."

The healer gave a respectful bow and after casting another questioning glance at Bolin, closed the door behind her. Korra turned to face the two guys in the room, crossing her arms sternly

"There is something I have to take care of," she spoke strictly, "I have to go for now, but I'll leave you two here. I should be back soon, I hope—in the meantime, try not to kill each other while I'm gone."

She gave an amused smile before turning towards the door, and opening it. She briskly headed towards the stairs, wanting to make it to her destination before Asami did. Inner Korra pulled up the list of possible comebacks to use against her upcoming run-in with her ex-best friend, and smiled at the irony. She had asked Bolin and Mako not to kill each other while she was gone; it would be hypocritical if she and Asami ended up tearing each other's hair out. And with that thought in her mind, she opened the door to the second floor.

* * *

Asami thought that it was very strange that when she returned to the hospital the receptionist had asked her how she was doing, wondering if she was feeling better. Not that it was particularly strange, but when she had told the woman her completely unbelievable story of seeing her ill grandfather, she hadn't even hesitated in letting her in. She hadn't expected that story to work—seeing as her grandfather had been dead for years now, and there was probably nobody in the hospital fitting the description of a sickly old man.

But nonetheless, her plan had worked, and now she was inside the hospital. Riding up the elevator, she smirked. It was very early in the morning, and it was unlikely that Korra had arrived yet to treat Mako, or whatever she did when she was with him. Her imagination gave her unpleasant mental images of a certain Avatar cuddling up to a reluctant Mako. A frown darkened Asami's brow as she impatiently waited for the elevator doors to open; she was definitely going to confront Mako about the relationship between him and Korra—as a healer, it was illegal to have relationship with a patient that was beyond professional, and she was going to make sure the Korra had remembered that.

As the door opened, she strode briskly out of the elevator, pausing only to look at the plaque on the wall showing which range of rooms lay in which direction. Having found that the room two hundred and twenty-one lay down the left hallway and around the corner, she set out at a determined pass, glancing at the room doors as she passed until she came to Mako's room. She put her hand on the door handle and opened it gently, not wanting to wake Mako if he was asleep. She crept into the room and peered around the door—much to her surprise, it wasn't Mako who was in the room, but Korra.

"Hello…Asami," Korra said placidly, sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands folded on either side of her waist.

"_Avatar_ Korra," Asami replied with a small sneer, putting the emphasis on the suffix.

"Can I help you?" Korra inquired sweetly, but there was a dangerous edge in her voice.

"Where's Mako?" Asami demanded, putting her hands on her hips, "And don't deny that he's here, because Bolin told me that he's your _patient_."

"Oh, I wasn't going to deny it," Korra stated matter-of-factly, "I'm just wondering since when has it been the concern of the pharmaceutical branch to who and what goes in and out of this hospital."

"This has nothing to do with the pharmacy," Asami snapped, "It is on own personal business."

"It is confidential information that Mako is here," Korra stated with forced patience, "Therefore it does not concern you."

"Oh, and it concerns Bolin?" Asami retorted, her own patience thinning.

"Bolin found out through eavesdropping," Korra responded, her eyes darkening, "But it is none of his concern either."

"Why is Mako your patient?" Asami found herself demanding, "Why you?"

"Katara assigned me to the task," Korra replied, "She trusted me with this and I am the only one who can take time off and help him."

"I don't believe you," Asami responded stubbornly, "I want to see Mako and ask him myself."

"He's resting at the moment and I won't have you disturbing him," Korra stated, "What I'm curious is to know why you are so desperate to see him. Pretending to be unconscious? Very sneaky, Asami—underhanded even."

"I want to see him because I love him!" Asami declared passionately to Korra, expecting an argument in return, but was surprised when the young Avatar let out a laugh.

"Love him? _You_?" she snorted, glaring over at her.

"Yes, I love him!" Asami shouted indignantly, "And what about you? Why are _you_ the one who gets to take care of Mako? Why are _you_ doing this?"

"I'm doing this because I have been assigned by Katara to do this," Korra informed her coolly, "And I'm doing it because you're not the only one who cares about him, Asami."

"That's strictly forbidden!" Asami countered angrily.

"I am not in any sort of forbidden relationship with Mako!" Korra hollered, jumping to her feet and glaring daggers at her, "You know the rules as well as I do, you know how Mako is—how _dare_ you suggest there be anything between the two of us!"

"Oh yeah? Well, if you really want to know why I'm really here, it's to hear it from him directly. I can just see you sitting up here, playing the seductress!" Asami yelled back in equal intensity.

"The seductress?! _Me?!_" Korra screeched indignantly, "How dare you call _me_ the seductress when you were the one who was _throwing _yourself at General Iroh while Mako was gone!"

"_Throwing myself_?!" Asami shrieked, "I did no such thing!"

"Face it, Asami, you are just professing your love like a little twelve-year-old girl," Korra taunted, "You don't care about Mako— and you most certainly don't _love_ him. Why deny it? You've been crushing on General Iroh for years now! Trying to get his attention constantly, dragging him all over the place! You don't love Mako, Asami—if you did, you would be trying to find out how you can help, not accusing me of 'playing the seductress'. If you want to see Mako, then you'll have to wait until he's released from hospital in a few days."

Korra relaxed her stance and cast a last sharp look at Asami, "Don't forget that he's a potential criminal to Republic City, and would most likely be punished accordingly, no matter what either of us do."

With that final word, Korra walked past her and out the door, leaving a shocked Asami behind; the argument had been abrupt and short. Not only that, but the argument had also left her thinking about something she had never notice before. Had…had she really been so clingy to General Iroh? She hadn't even realised it. Maybe she was just like that towards guys. No, that didn't make any sense either, because she wasn't like that to Bolin or any of the other guys she knew. She didn't want to contemplate the possibility that she actually liked someone other than her beloved pro bender.

Mako was being released in a few days, huh? Well… She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she knew that any other attempts for her to see Mako would most likely be thwarted—damn, it was so not like her to give up. But there was nothing she could do, right?

Leaving the room quietly and closing the door behind her, Asami strutted down the hallway deep in thought, having been given plenty to think about.

* * *

Glad to see you're both still alive," Korra stated cheerfully as the door opened up.

"Hm," Mako found himself replying, a crooked smile spreading across his face.

"Did you deal with the problem?" he heard Bolin ask Korra conversationally, "What was up?"

"Just someone poking their nose where it doesn't belong," Korra replied, sounding displeased about the matter, "Which reminds me—Mako, I'm assuming you don't want any of your old fangirls being allowed into to visit you."

"Preferably not," he stated, not wanting his old fans squealing and swarming into his room. Old associates he could perhaps put up with, but fangirls was an absolute no.

"I thought so," Korra replied, sounding firm, "Are you done with visiting Bolin? Because I'd like to get the healing procedure started soon."

"Okay," Bolin's said as he turned to Korra, then when he spoke again, he turned to Mako, "Hey bro. Get well soon—we have to train you up again."

A smirk crossed his face, "You better get ready—I won't go easy on you."

"Neither of you should get overconfident," Korra cut in, her voice amused yet sighing, "You'll both be careless and end up back here."

Though none of them said it, they all knew that Mako couldn't even hope to defeat Bolin at the moment—and even though he knew that they didn't say anything because they were being considerate towards his condition, it made him angry. His entire life he had been among the best in firebending, and now here he was worse than Bolin. In all honesty, he respected Bolin, but it still left him feeling worse that for once he couldn't beat his sparring partner—his best friend. His brother.

"Thanks for coming, Bo," Korra said kindly as there were retracting footsteps heading across the room to the door, "You're going to have to let me know when you want to visit again though—this a restricted level."

"Okay," Bolin said cheerfully, "Catch you later."

Mako watched the door to his room close, leaving him and Korra alone. She approached the bed, and the edge of the mattress sank somewhat under her weight. He watched her grab his left hand, passing her thumb over the back of it like she said she would do, and there was a light touch at his neck; he could feel she was brushing her fingers over his scarf.

"Red is certainly your colour, Mako" she said after a minute, "I'm glad you're back."

He wasn't so sure if _he_ was though. Even though he had ended up in Republic City, and he had found things going well, he wasn't certain if this was what was best. To retie the bonds that were stagnant—to recreate that which he knew he would have to destroy as he set out for Zolt.

"Korra."

"Hm?" he felt her fingers fall away from his neck.

"This was the last place I wanted to be when I woke up here; I hadn't planned on returning until Zolt was dead—and then I wasn't sure even then if I'd come back at all," he told her seriously, to let her know that he still firmly held that belief, "I didn't want ties with Republic City, and I still partially don't, but I don't really have a choice right now. Don't think that things can go back to the way they were. Even if I do stay, I don't think I'll ever go back to being who I was before I was taken by Amon."

There was a pause from Korra, and when she spoke, her words were gentle and sad, "You know, I think that really, deep down, you wanted to come back here—you were just afraid to. I can't say that I know what you've been through, but I think that you're afraid to let anyone get close to you because you're afraid to lose everything again."

"I don't want to lose everything close to me," he stated coldly—again she was trying to understand him, "That's why I don't have anything close. It's easier that way."

"I think you're wrong, Mako," she replied quietly, "You really do have people you care about—even if you won't acknowledge it, or don't know it. Bolin. He's not only your brother but your best friend, isn't he? Doesn't that count as a tie? Ties like that can't be broken, even if you try to; you're just basically ignoring them. You can't really break the bonds of friendship, especially when the person you are trying to sever them with won't let you. Blood runs thicker than water."

A silence blanketed the room for a minute as he forced himself to deny the words she was speaking to him. They were true, he knew…But even if the ties could not be broken, he could still ignore them.

"And besides," she continued after the silence had been laid on a little too thickly, "Wouldn't you like to have a family of your own here, in Republic City, where your family planned to raise you and your brother? Why bother having a family in a place far from here, with no historical value or meaning?"

She really did talk too much.

"Korra—you're annoying."

He watched her lips curl into a small smile.

"Sorry," she said mildly, "Shall we start then?"/pp

Instead of responding he reached out and untied the bandage that was wound around his hands, then unwrapped the scarf from around his neck, knowing that it would be in the way. Handing her the bandage he held onto the scarf while she did whatever she did with the long strip of gauze fabric.

He didn't really pay any attention to her laying her fingers on his left palm, but focused on the scarf in his right hand. The fabric was warm from the heat that had been released from his neck, and it was utterly threadbare—he was surprised that Bolin even had it; it had been so long, yet his baby brother had kept it all this time. Running his thumb over the deep red fabric, he thought about the things Bolin had told him while Korra had been absent from the room.

Korra had taken his capture the hardest, Bolin had told him; everyday she waited, hoped and prayed that he would somehow come back, or that someone would find him. Her spirit had been broken for the longest time, though she refused to let it show. She eventually became Katara's apprentice, in hopes of being more useful, having developed an inferiority complex, causing her to think that she had been absolutely useless. Having a goal to achieve, she worked harder as a healer than any other had, Bolin recounted to him, complaining that he had hardly seen her between pro-bending matches because of her determination.

'_She told me once that she wanted to find a way to stop Amon from taking people's bending. She was that determined to save you—but you never acknowledged her back then, you always pushed her away. You didn't deserve her devotion, and you still don't deserve it_.'

Yet now, as Korra sat before him, healing his hands, he could not detect, or recall, any indications that emphasised that she had been missing him for so long. She had worked tirelessly over him, true, but would she have done it if she had not been assigned to the task? She still cared for him, but she did not seem so fanatical as she had been before, and while it was obvious that time had changed her, he couldn't help wondering if she held a touch of resentment towards him for leaving her behind, that maybe she wished she too, had been captured.

As the energy flowed from Korra's fingers again, his thoughts once again became detached, a slight guilty feeling seeping into him as he thought of the how he had been taken from her—a feeling he hadn't felt before, a feeling he had refused to feel. He tried to clear his head, but found himself unable to, as images of a smiling Korra kept floating across his mind. The energy flow was gentle and soft, he noted dimly—like Korra's hidden personality, he added. Mako blinked his eyes, trying to brush the thought away, but again he felt the urge to rest his fingers against hers.

He clenched his fist into the fabric of his scarf, forcing his mind awake; he was not going to let himself do anything stupid. He stiffened a little, but did not move enough to let Korra notice his change in position, trying instead to think of how he was going to train in order to defeat Zolt and Amon, and what he would do afterwards. That last thought caused him to think of what Korra had said— raising a family in an unfamiliar place, no culture, no history, no connection to the location.

"Korra," he said after a moment, still grasping his old scarf, "I have decided that I will stay in Republic City.

"Welcome home."

* * *

Some people may question my choice in making Asami and Korra somewhat the reverse of what they are in the actual series but I just want to explain that this fic is set between books One and Two; Book One being when Mako dated both Asami and Korra. I think it makes it more realistic that Asami would be feeling hurt and less than inclined to wanting to be friendly towards Korra. Just thought I'd clarify that before anyone asked.


	12. Chapter 12

Fade to Black: Chapter Eleven

* * *

"What news, Kya?" Katara asked calmly, her fingertips touched together and her elbows resting on her desk.

It had been two weeks since she had sent out her only daughter, Kya, to check on the masked man leading the Equalists, and finally, after what had seemed like eternity, the capable woman had returned unscathed, hopefully bringing news for her mother.

"I have," Kya replied in a serious tone, "And it doesn't look pretty."

"Oh?" Katara peered perceptively at the young woman, "What has happened?"

"It seems that the Equalists are moving, having locked onto another target—they are moving towards the Earth Kingdom," Kya reported, a grim expression on her face, "It is unsure of there motive is, or who is the target for their renegade—however there are speculations made by Bumi and myself that they may be going for the Earth Queen."

Katara swiveled slightly in her chair, turning to face an overcast and gloomy sky outside the window. A mocking smile on her lips, "It seems they are not as misguided as we initially though."

There was a low rumble as lightning flickered in the distance out over the horizon. It had been a gloomy day all day and things just weren't getting better. It had been sunny all week, but the weather seemed to have decided to turn nasty, coinciding with current events. Things had gotten considerably worse with the news that Kya had just brought from Bumi, who was currently making secretive investigations into the activities on the Equalists. She sighed heavily and turned back to Kya, who was standing with one hand on her hip, looking troubled.

"Did Bumi say anything else?" she asked heavily, fearing more bad news may have come in tow.

"Other than sprouting some nonsense about his time leading an expedition to the North Pole —no," Kya recounted, a displeased smirk on her lips.

"I hope you hit him," Katara smiled from behind her laced fingers.

Kya's smirk broadened, "Oh, I did."

"Good," Katara replied approvingly, sitting up straighter, "Next time you see him—hit him over the head for me. You're dismissed."

"Will do," Kya grinned brightly and turned to leave, thoughts of some of Republic City's street food floating into her mind.

"Oh, Kya," Katara interrupted the woman's thoughts of delicious food, "One more thing; would you mind checking in on Mako and Korra?"

Kya turned and looked at Katara curiously, "Yes of course, but whatever for?"

Katara leant back in her chair, "I was hoping that maybe you could talk to him."

"Uh-oh," Kya frowned slightly, "Is he causing trouble?"

"No, no," Katara replied off-handedly, "I've sealed away a section of his emotions—so he's safe… He's actually to be released from hospital tomorrow morning. However I was hoping you could talk to him about his anger issues before then—a kind of counseling session if you will. I think he relied on its power a fair bit and losing it was hard for him—can you try and point out to him how this is a turn for the better?"

"Sure thing, mum," Kya nodded, "I'll go and pay him a visit."

"I don't know if this will affect how things go, but apparently he self harmed in order to escape the fate of being Amon's bargaining chip," Katara added, rubbing her temples slowly with her wrinkled fingertips, "And Korra is not to know that her took a part in loosing his ability to bend."

"Pep talk, self-harming, don't tell Korra," Kya repeated, counting them off on her fingers, "Got it."

Before Katara could say another word, Kya had left from the room, heading for her favourite food stand, but her mind was pondering with curiosity a young fire bedner.

* * *

"What a dreadful looking day," Korra commented, leading Mako gently by the arm through the hospital's garden, looking up at the sky with a slight frown.

It had been three days since Bolin had come to visit and Asami had attempted to intrude, but on the whole, things had been regular and routine. A couple of United Police Force agents had been in to further question Mako, and come up with no more answers than Lin had derived from him. Other than that, there had been no major disruptions.

Word had quickly spread throughout their old acquaintances of Mako's condition, thanks to Bolin, and there had been a few visitors. Tahno, Ming and Shaozu, had come to visit, and General Iroh had come as well; Korra was glad that Asami had behaved in a more mature manner—but perhaps it was because Iroh had been present. Bolin had been in several times, having twice dragged in a blushing Opal.

Treatment had been going well and Mako's ligaments were almost completely healed from the damage that had been inflicted upon them. Korra had happily announced to Katara that after tomorrow's healing session, Mako should be able to be released from hospital. Korra was planning on telling her mother the news that evening, and start packing her things so that she could move in with Mako.

"The air smells damp," Mako stated, "Do you think it will rain?"

"Yeah," she replied frowning, "If we're lucky, we won't get rained on before our walk is over. Do you want to head in now?"

"No," Mako replied, walking beside her at an even pace, "Unless you'd much rather go inside than risk getting wet."

"It's only water, hardly an issue for a water bender" Korra said shrugging, "But my bet is that it'll come down in torrents once it gets going. The sky is dark with huge clouds—despite the air being comfortably cool, it looks like it'll get really cold if it rains. The wind's caught the clouds up there and they're moving pretty quickly over us, bringing some even more sinister-looking clouds our direction. I think in the distance there's lightning, but it might be a while before it reaches us."

"I can see that for myself, Korra, but that doesn't tell me whether you want to go in or not," he replied, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly in amusement.

"Alright then," Korra replied, "No, I do not want to go in quite yet."

"Fair enough," Mako responded evenly, "Tell me about the garden."

"Um, well, the path we're taking right now is the right fork that you stumbled on a couple days back—"

"Don't talk about that," Mako growled, and Korra peered up at him inquisitively, and then smiled softly; the back of Mako's neck was slightly red—something she had discovered always happened when he was embarrassed.

"Sorry," she smirked, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice. They continued their walk through neatly trimmed bushes with pretty pink flowers blooming on them and perfectly manicured flowerbeds. They passed a whole bed of crocuses, which cover the bed like a carpet—blossoming deep purples, the purest whites and the brightest of yellows. On the other side of the garden they came across a Japanese maple, the leaves are that lovely shade of red, the colour of red wine.

"Ahead of them the path stretched out into a sort of grove, where a number of different trees are. They were lotus trees, and in the springtime they bloom a lovely white. The leaves a kind of crimson colour contrasting with the blossoms; the flowers are so thick on the trees that it looks like they don't have any leaves, just the flowers.

Mako tilted his head as she walked down the garden path, her eyes focused on the clouds above, which looked like they were threatening to start spitting down any moment.

"Korra," Mako said, stopping turning his head slightly towards her, "It's starting to rain."

Mako looked over at Mako and then turned her attention to the sky, "Really-"

Korra was cut short as a particularly large raindrop landed on her nose.

"Yes," Mako answered, not noticing Korra's abrupt halt in speech as she rubbed the wetness from her face, "It's falling in places around us."

"I hadn't even noticed," she mumbled absently in reply then looked around at their surroundings.

Ahead of them the path stretched down the hill, and at the bottom she could see a bench. The bench in question had a little roof built over it to keep it shaded for patients who were resting there on sunny days, but the roof would also suffice for keeping them dry. The raindrops were falling more frequently already, and Korra knew they would be soaked if they tried to turn back to the hospital, but they would remain relatively dry if they were to hurry to the bench that she saw.

"There's a sheltered bench up ahead, we can sit the rain spell out there," Korra suggested, tugging a little on Mako's stationary form, "We'll end up dryer than if we run back to the hospital."

Mako said nothing but began to walk again, and Korra impatiently led him forwards, knowing that asking him to run or even jog would most likely cause him to trip. The heavy drops rained down on her, falling more often, splashing her with the cold water, causing goose bumps to rise on her mocha skin.

"Korra, could we hurry?" Mako asked impatiently, "We're getting quite wet."

"Okay okay…" she responded uncertainly, quickening her pace, "Careful, the path is quite rough, don't trip."

"Right," was the only word he said in response, hiding any damage to his pride that he might have felt.

The rain was well and truly pouring down when they arrived at the bench, both of them slumping down on the wood, their clothes rather damp. At least neither of them were soaked, Korra noted as a bright flash of lightning shone in the distance, and a few seconds later, a low rumble of thunder rolled by.

"I guess now all that's left is to wait," Korra said, reclining back onto the bench, a sigh in her voice, "You're not too cold, are you?"

"No," came Mako's blunt reply.

"That's good," Korra smiled, shivering slightly. The cool air had felt nice before, and the dampness in the air had been refreshing, but now that she was wet, the air felt frigid and cold. Mako had dropped her arm when they sat down, so she hugged herself tightly, rubbing her bare arms to keep warm.

"You should have worn something warmer," Mako told her, and Korra blinked slightly at his perceptiveness. Was he stating a fact, or did he know she was feeling cold?

"I can always just water bend the pair of us dry," Korra replied, pinching her upper arms to bring the blood to them, "Though I didn't think it would start to rain while we were out here."

Without a word, Mako offered his arm to her, causing Korra to look at him in confusion. When she did not grab onto it immediately, he gave her a little nudge with his elbow, allowing her to take hold of it tentatively. Wrapping both of her arms around his, she hugged herself closer to him, letting the heat from his side cause her shivering to ebb. Silence plagued her as she was completely taken by surprise.

"Be better prepared next time," he told her in a voice that strongly suggested that this was a one-time-only thing.

"Sure thing, Team Captain…" she said quietly, an unwilling blush creeping on her cheeks. She was glad that Mako was going to be released from the hospital tomorrow—then he would not longer be her patient, and things like this could not be held against her in any legal way. He was considered to be her patient as long as he was in hospital, and she knew that as soon as Asami found out, there would be some very strong disagreements over Korra moving into Mako's apartment.

"My, don't you two look cute—all cozy and close together like that," came a mischievous sounding voice.

Korra immediately loosened her grasp on Mako's arm and looked around wildly for the source of the voice. Mako looked unperturbed, the back of his neck not the least bit red—apparently false accusations were nothing to be embarrassed about for him, Korra noted with envy.

There was a laugh, and Korra thought it must have been because of her own reaction to the earlier said statement. She spotted a form coming towards them, stopping once under the roof of the small shelter, a playful grin on her face, "Hi Korra. I hear you've been making incredible progress with Mako's rehabilitation. Good work."

Korra found herself blushing, feeling honored, "Why thank you… Kya."

"Yeah, that's me," Kya smiled, then with a teasing note in her voice, added, "I've been looking for the both of you all over! What are you both doing out here in the rain? Everyone else has gone back inside."

"We were kinda caught off guard," Korra smiled sheepishly, "We didn't want to get soaked on the way back to the hospital."

"Well you two are pretty wet anyway," Kya noted with amusement, "Before I forget, I've been sent here by Katara to tell you that you have the afternoon off."

"What?" Korra asked with confusion, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Mako scowl.

"Katara said that I was to talk with Mako for the remainder of the afternoon. When we're finished I'll have someone send for you," she replied lightly and cheerfully, "So you have the afternoon off."

The grey haired water bender gave a little wave to Korra, telling her to leave in such a cheerful manner that it was hard to call rude, and in such an abrupt manner that there was no margin for arguing. Dumbfounded and a little uncertain, Korra slowly rose to her feet, her arm pulling away from Mako's, however Mako grabbed onto her hand preventing her from leaving.

"Mako?" she found herself saying uncertainly, looking back down at him.

"Don't stay out in the rain."

"Okay," she said as his hand dropped away from hers, wondering dimly why he even cared, "I'll be back later this afternoon."

"Have fun!" Kya said called cheerily after her, as she sprinted off through the rain, trying to stay as dry as she possibly could.

She managed to get inside the hospital without becoming entirely soaked, and she knew that she should go home and get a change of clothes—not to mention a coat and a change of clothes for Mako. Having thought of a number of things that she could do with the time off, she wasted no time in quickly grabbing her umbrella from Mako's room, and heading out into the rain again.

* * *

To avoid tempting illness, she hurried through the streets as quickly as she could, shivering as she went, her teeth chattering a little. She missed the warmth of Mako's shoulder pressed against her as she held onto his arm—again she found herself speculating over his behavior. It was certainly a nice thing for him to do, and she appreciated the gesture, but his motives were unclear; knowing Mako, one would have to be worried for his health if he didn't have a motive behind his actions. She decided to ask him about it, later, knowing that he would probably have a simple and basic reason for his manner.

Korra stepped of the boat that had taken her to Air Temple Island, making her way to the main entrance she stepped inside, the rain pelting so hard on the pavement that water droplets sprayed back up and soaked her feet. After water bending her self dry she quickly closed the door and hung her fur pelt on a coat hook mounted on the wall, and kicked off her footwear. She sighed and a long shiver ran over her.

"Who's there?" came a voice from within the house; Korra smiled as she recognised it to be Pema's.

"Guess," she announced back inside, stepping up out of the entryway and into the main hall.

A head peeked out from the kitchen at her and then burst out laughing. Tenzin's wife, Pema, asked; "What happened to you?" she asked laughing at her drenched and limp-looking state, "You're soaked!"

She made a face at him, "Oh don't get me started on the weather. Why is it that the first thing you always do when you see me is make fun of me?"

She walked over and passed Korra a towel she'd taken from the linen closet, "Oh I wouldn't say that. You're not much better either, Korra. The first thing you say to me after I've not seen you in nearly a month is mention the weather."

"That's true," she agreed, sticking her tongue out at the woman, then laughed despite herself.

She smiled good-naturedly in return, "How've you been, Korra?"

"Let me go change my clothes and I'll come back and fill you in on what's been going on," Korra said, rolling her eyes, walking towards the stairs, "Would you mind putting some hot water on for me—I feel like having some ginseng tea."

It wasn't long until Korra returned back downstairs in the kitchen, garbed in some clean—and more importantly— completely dry clothing. Her hair was still a little damp and if she had just finished attacking it with a brush, knowing that if she didn't do so, it would look dreadful when it finally dried off. Pema was leaning against the kitchen bench, leisurely eating a muffin that with her expert culinary skills had baked. When Korra entered the kitchen, she gestured at the kettle sitting on the stovetop.

"Am I going crazy?" she asked her in a teasing tone as she crossed the kitchen, "I think I am currently having a hallucination, in which you are wearing something that isn't sleeveless."

It was true that she hadn't changed into another sleeveless tank top, but was in fact wearing a blue t-shirt with sleeves that reached mid-way down her upper arms, decorated by the simple white symbol that was the insignia of the Southern Water Tribe. Her navy hued pants had been replaced with some tight fitting black leggings, and her feet were wrapped in socks.

"You would have thought yourself more crazy if you had seen me last week," she replied matter-of-factly, as she took the kettle off the burner, reaching for a clean mug, "I was wearing something other than blue."

"So," Pema said after Korra had finished pouring herself some hot water, "How's Bolin?"

"He's fine," Korra replied, grabbing the tin of tealeaves from the pantry, "Training hard as usual—except he's taking a break now, mostly so that he can hassle my patient."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow at her, "Who's your patient?"

Korra noted with satisfaction that the conversation was going where she wanted to. "Do you remember Mako?" she asked, sitting down at the table, stirring her tea with a spoon.

"Of course, poor boy," Pema replied, her brow darkening with a frown, "He was the boy who caused you to fall into depression for two years."

"Don't talk that way about him," Korra replied, her own face creasing with a frown, "Anyway, he's _my_ patient."

Korra saw her Pema's eyebrows raise into a look of disbelief, "What?!"

"You heard me," Korra replied, a smile on her face "He was found and brought back to Republic City. I've been assigned to take care of him—"

"You mean you volunteered," Pema interrupted.

Korra ignored her comment, "—and rehabilitate him. He's had his bending taken and is still in hospital recovering, but assuming everything goes as planned, he should be going home tomorrow. Which brings me to why I need your help tomorrow."

"Help? You're thoughts are too loosely connected to follow, Korra."

"I'm about to explain," she glowered at him before taking an experimental sip of her tea, "I am going to be his caretaker; even though he is going to be released from hospital, the treatment isn't over. I'm going to be by his side at all times, so we'll have to live together."

"What? He's moving in with you?" Pema's eyebrows lifted again.

"No…" Korra said patiently, correcting her, "I'm moving in with him, and I'll need your help tomorrow moving my things to his place."

After a moment's pause Pema swallowed the rest of the muffin thoughtfully. "Isn't Mako considered a criminal? I thought I heard Tenzin mention his name over a recent family meal," she asked.

"Perhaps Tenzin meant that Mako is a 'missing person'," Korra told her distractedly, the tea was evidently still too hot as she found herself nursing a burnt tongue.

"How long will you be living with him?" Pema inquired after a moment.

"Until he feels he can get by on his own," Korra told her, "Don't freak out like my mum did when she found out."

She chuckled slightly, "I'm not going to freak out, but I can't say I approve. You still like Mako, don't you, Korra."

"Katara trusts me with this," she replied defiantly, glaring at Pema from over the rim of her mug, "And regardless of how I feel, nothing inappropriate is going to happen. This is the second time that I've been reminded of the improperness of the situation."

"Sorry," Pema apologised, "Tell me about Mako—what's he like?"

"I can tell you're still suspicious," Korra stated haughtily, "So I'll put your mind at ease: Mako is a introverted, prideful, and stubborn person who refuses help from anyone. He never allows anyone to get near to him if he can help it and has never particularly showed any signs that he's considered me more than a teammate and a friend. He protects people by _not_ befriending them, to protect them from Zolt who murdered his family when he and his brother were eight. His sole ambition is to kill said man, raise a family and live a peaceful and uneventful life. The latter of which I don't blame him for wanting."

Pema sat before Korra with a grim expression upon her face. "Mako's not all bad, that I know for sure."

Korra laughed and smiled, "Despite what I say, I know he's a good person at heart."

After a moment Pema looked over at her with a troubled look on her face, "I have issues with the 'raise a family' part. He'll need help with that bit."

"Pema, I'm only _eighteen_—Mako is only _nineteen_," she sighed, "Sure teenagers do stupid things, but he is the most level-headed, mature, and rational person I have ever known. And you _know_ me—I'm not that kind of person. I can barely look after myself let alone a baby."

"Okay, okay," Pema nodded, feeling slightly reassured, "I believe you. I've not seen you in weeks and I don't want you mad at me. So what do you want me to do to help?"

"I'd hug you right now if I felt like getting up," Korra smiled, "I'm going to pack my things this evening, I just need help toting them—his apartment is a little bit far from here. I'm going to see if I can get Bolin to help, so you can catch up with him tomorr—blargh!"

Korra acked loudly as Tenzin and Pema's three children jumped Korra from behind. Korra was shocked indeed, especially because it was always unexpected, and unsettled her terrible. Pulling Meelo from around her shoulders she laid him in her lap.

"Meelo, you know it's not nice to sneak up on people," she said absently while glaring at Jinora and Ikki who were laughing at her reaction.

"Korra," Jinora, Tenzin and Pema's eldest, stated, "Gran Gran told me to let you know that Mako and Kya have returned to the hospital."

"Oh, thank you for letting me know," Korra replied, tickling Meelo. "I have to go now. Afternoon rehab."

"What? Already? You just got here," Ikki said frowning indignantly, "When are you going to come back to Air Temple Island?"

"Later this evening—eightish," Korra replied before downing the rest of her tea.

"The children will walk you to the hospital," Pema told her, straightening up and running to grab their coats.

"Sure," Korra grinned.

She and the air bender kids had always been close, and they liked to spend time with her, saying they missed her when she was away on missions. Korra had told them that they probably just got bored while she was away on missions because there was nobody to make fun of.

"I'm going to make a stop that's out of our way," Korra added afterwards, remembering that Mako was probably still wet, and to spare him the horror of having to wear one of those hospital gowns, she would go pick up a dry set of clothes for him.

They nodded in understanding and tossed her fur pelt to her, where it caught her in the face. Not wanting to waste time arguing, she shrugged it on quickly.

"After you," Meelo said, striking a mock-gentlemanly pose and opening the door.

Korra rolled her eyes and grabbing her umbrella, she headed back out into the rain.

* * *

Mako listened to Korra's receding footfalls until they faded away amid the pelting of the falling rain. The woman, Kya, paused for a moment longer as well, before coming and sitting down on Mako's right hand side; he said nothing.

"It's been a while, Mako," Kya said happily, speaking into the rain.

He nodded by did not say anything in return.

"I don't know if you remember, but I'm Kya," the woman told him conversationally, "I was the one who oversaw part of your healing process when you were brought back to Republic City. I'm also Avatar Aang and Katara's daughter."

"I remember," he said after a moment, recalling the sprightly young woman who he'd met on occasion in the past. "I was also told that Korra took part in the healing."

"Yep, and what a spectacular performance it was—she should seriously consider becoming a master of healing, but she doesn't want to leave her current position in the hospital right now," he heard Kya say in dismay, "Too bad, we could really use someone like her on the field."

"Hm."

"Anyway, I came all the way out here because I figure I owe you an explanation and an apology, because I'm the person who is somewhat responsible for your bending having been taken from you," Mako noted that she sounded regretful.

"In what way were you responsible?" he asked suspiciously, his amber eyes narrowing.

"Before I go anything I feel I should brief you on past events that have impacted on the present day. Years ago there was a man named Yakone. Yakone was a powerful crime lord who threatened Republic City for many years. A corrupt and ruthless individual, Yakone longed for more power and used his unique psychic bloodbending abilities to control the United Republic capital through his criminal empire. For a long time, he was able to hide his forbidden ability and evade the law, until a final trial determined his sentence to life imprisonment. Upon this judgment, Yakone attempted escape, but following a brief scuffle with Avatar Aang, his bending was permanently removed.

Yakone was later freed by his gang and left Republic City for the Northern Water Tribe. There, he got married and became the father of Noatak and Tarrlok, both of whom he taught waterbending and bloodbending in hopes that they could eventually avenge him."Kya replied, sounding grim, "If I had realised it then, perhaps you would have been spared all the trouble and pain you have been through."

"I've heard of the devastation that Yakone bought upon Republic City, but what does councilman Tarrlok and this 'Noatak' have to do with me?" Mako echoed, his tone flat, but his response was a question within a statement.

"Up until last year we all believed that councilman Tarrlok was a man born and raised in the Northern Water Tribe. That much was true, however it was discovered that he is in fact Yakone's son."

Her voice died off quietly, and she was quiet for a while, Mako merely faced out into the rain, watching it hit the ground with the splattering noise it emitted. He had no idea where this woman was going with this, or why she was even talking to him.

"Mako, Tarrlok and his brother, Noatak, are blood benders. You asked what the two of them have to do with you." She sighed before continuing, "Noatak is Amon. Amon is Noatak. " She said suddenly, and Mako felt his stomach flip.

Republic City had been played for fools. If only they'd discovered this sooner, then perhaps there could have been a chance that he would have escaped Amon's clutches.

"That's how Amon takes away people's bending; through blood bending." she stated, and he nodded mutely in reply.

Mako instinctively rubbed his hands together, the once warm palms now cold to the touch, no longer did they pulse with energy. He frowned slightly as he realised that this.

"Asides from Yakone and his two sons, Avatar Aang, my father, is the only person in history to have had the ability to take away people's bending. While he may not have been the only one to remove people's bending, he is the only known person to have been able to restore it." Kya went on.

"Are you saying I will never have my bending restored?" Mako asked her, turning his head sharply towards her.

"You may never get it back—While it's true that Aang is the only person known to have been able to remove and restore people's bending, that's not to say that perhaps another person's ability to do so has go unnoticed," Kya said quietly.

"Why are you telling me these things?" Mako asked after a moment.

"My mother and I believe that Korra has the potential to unlock the ability to energy bend. Meaning that she too, along with Avatar Aang, will possess the power to remove and restore a person's bending," Kya replied, "It's almost inevitable—Korra has already mastered elements the likes that past Avatar's had not by the end of their life. Korra is only eighteen and already she possesses more power than some of the past Avatar's combined."

Korra's face drifted across Mako's subconscious as Kya spoke, but his conscious mind was pondering something else.

"Give it time, Mako. You will lay witness to an Avatar never before seen." Kya said solemnly from his right.

"Hm," he replied quietly, the first time he put emotion into a one-syllable answer.

Korra was already a sight to behold.

* * *

Eeeeeeee I really enjoyed writing this chapter. As always review and let me know what you thought!


	13. Chapter 13

Fade to Black: Chapter Twelve

* * *

The weather was no longer stormy, but the remnants of the rainfall the previous day was evident as an overcast blanket of clouds stretched out over the city. It was warm enough, and while Korra was still wearing a long sleeved t-shirt instead of the usual tank top, it was relatively pleasant weather.

Mako had been discharged from hospital that very morning as she finished up with the healing procedure, and were now heading to his old apartment, after stopping by Air Temple Island to pick up the 'volunteers' who were helping by carrying her things.

"Thanks for doing this," she said over her shoulders to Pema, Bolin and the Air bender kids, "It would have taken me forever if I had done it on my own."

"It's no problem, Korra," Pema piped cheerfully.

"Yeah…" Bolin grunted sarcastically, "No trouble—just a little back pain later on in life, but that's all right; I'll just be stooped over like an old man."

"Oh, quit your whining" Korra made a face over her shoulder at the comment, "Pema isn't complaining, and _you're_ the Earth bender here. Honestly, if you're this weak, I'm surprised you made it past the preliminary pro-bending matches."

Mako, who had his arm linked with Korra's, gave crooked smile in amusement.

"Oi, Kor," Bolin groaned from behind them, Korra giving him a frown, "Is there anything left at your house? It's almost seems like you're going to be moving in for good."

"Don't be silly, Bolin," she replied curtly, "For someone who wants to be the President one day, you sure are making such a big fuss over something as small as hauling luggage."

"But it's so heavy!" Bolin complained loudly.

"Honestly, Bolin," Korra rolled her eyes, "You're doing even worse than Meelo, and he's six."

Behind her she heard Bolin grumble something indistinctive. She shook her head slightly from side to side; for someone who was so eager to help, he sure did make a big deal out of it. Contrarily, Pema, Jinora and Ikki had been very helpful. They had been present when Korra asked Bolin for help in moving her things, and had happily volunteered to assist them. Jinora in particular had also been a little more sympathetic towards her when she told the both of them the reason she needed her belongings moved.

Like her father, Bolin had exploded at the news of Korra moving into his and Mako's old apartment, and had made many vehement protests; naturally Korra hadn't given him an inch, resulting in Bolin's defeat. But perhaps she should have told him that day, instead of the previous night, because the next morning it seemed like everyone she knew had found out of the accommodation arrangements. Asami had stormed up to the fifth floor and burst into Mako's room, just before the healing procedure, absolutely livid. Quietly excusing the both of them, Korra led Asami to the staffroom next door where an all-out shouting match had ensued. It had eventually become so bad that the healers on break began to make bets on them. Those who had bet on Korra walked away with their purses heavier.

But other than the mishaps with her father, Bolin, and Asami, everything had run smoothly. What made the day seem just that much better was that Mako's hands were completely healed, and it was almost refreshing to see without the bandage wrapped around his slender hands. Korra had always liked Mako's hands.

She was leading Mako carefully down the road, amazed at how he was doing; not once had he stumbled on the rough pavement. Perhaps it was because he was being extra careful so that Bolin wouldn't laugh—though Korra seriously doubted that Bolin would laugh if his brother lost his footing—or maybe he was just getting better at walking around. Nonetheless, she was proud of him.

"Ugh," Bolin groaned, "Korra, if I had known that this much work would be required, I wouldn't have agreed."

"Just think of it as training for your upcoming pro-bending matches." Pema exclaimed optimistically.

"Hm," Bolin paused as he stopped to ponder the concept, "Who want's to race me to the apartment block?!"

"You'll probably collapse before we get there, Bo," Mako commented with a smirk, and Korra laughed lightly.

"You been eating too much Narook's lately?" Meelo teased, "Getting out of shape?"

"Speak for yourself," Korra shot back as they rounded the corner into the ramshackle neighbourhood, "You and Bolin are probably Narook's top customers. And quit complaining, we're almost there."

"Oi, Meelo, Ikki, Jinora! The race starts now!" Bolin exclaimed suddenly, putting on a burst of speed and rushing ahead, "Winner gets treated to seaweed noodles!"

"You're on, Bolin!" Meelo shouted creating an air scooter to chase after the older boy.

"Hey! No fair you two!" Ikki declared as she dashed after the other benders ahead of her.

"Don't drop anything!" Korra hollered after them, then let out hearty sigh, "Sometimes I don't know what do make of them."

Mako said nothing to this, but instead changed the topic, "It busy around here—more so than I remember."

"Oh, that's right; half the neighbourhood was filled while you've been gone," Korra recalled in a thoughtful tone, "It's only recently that its been filled up again. Asami has been working with President Raiko to redevelop the area."

"One day this neighbourhood will be thriving again," Mako said firmly, "like it should be."

"I believe it," Korra said confidently."

They rounded the last corner and Korra saw their three comrades resting at the foot of the front gate, Bolin panting slightly from the race, their loads put in a pile on the ground. As she and Mako approached the trio, Korra wondered if Mako had noticed the stares that were shot in his direction. She knew that some people had known Mako to live here previously, and were most likely surprised to see him back after so long.

Coming up to the group, Korra put her free hand on her hip, smiling lightly, "Who won?"

"Meelo won," Ikki whined.

At this comment, Meelo flexed his arms and gave Korra a ridiculous grin.

"Stop fooling around," Korra stated making a face at him, "Why are you all lying about?"

"The gate's locked!" Bolin complained, "I didn't bring my set of keys. I don't even think I have them anymore. How do we get in?"

"How else?" Korra stated impatiently.

"Jump," Mako stated evenly before Korra could explain.

"Exactly. I'm not strong enough to air bend both Mako over the gate. I could bender the earth to create a bridge over it but… I don't think I want to go ripping up the newly placed pavement," Korra explained, "Ikki, could you please take Meelo's bags? Thank you. Jinora, come take Mako's other arm."

"I don't—" Mako began grumpily, but Korra cut him off.

"I don't want to have deal with a broken ankle, Mako," she said strictly, then after a moment dropped her arm from his and added, "You are of course welcome to try it yourself."

A growl came from the young fire bender and he grabbed her arm again, reluctantly. Korra nodded over at Jinora who handed Korra's luggage to Ikki before approaching Mako with caution. Grabbing hold of Mako's arm, Jinora raised an eyebrow at the fire bender's crabby temperament and gave Korra a questioning look. Korra ignored the look and turned to the remaining two benders.

"After you, Meelo," she said cheerfully.

"Okay," Meelo struck another of his silly poses and air bent nimbly over the fence, followed shortly by Ikki and Bolin with his earth bending.

"Alright, on the count of three," Korra instructed, and she felt Mako cling a little tighter to her arm; dimly she found herself wondering if he was grasping Jinora as hard, "One, two, three—jump!"

The three of them pushed off from the ground, leaping into the air. There was the brief feeling of flying over the gate as herself and Jinora bent the air beneath them, followed by the fleeting sensation of falling downwards before landing gracefully into the unkempt yard. Jinora and Korra hung onto Mako as he stumbled as his feet made contact with the ground. Once he was righted up, Jinora released the young man and relieved Ikki of the extra bags she was carrying.

"Wonderful," Korra said cheerfully, "Now we just have to get around back."

Bolin stared at the overgrown side path, his eyes wide; Ikki's eyebrows had scrunched together. Meelo was the only one who looked unperturbed, and even appeared eager at the challenge.

"Oh, come on, I've done it a dozen times already," Korra said rolling her eyes, "Let's go, Mako. I'm sure we'll have a lot less difficult time than Bolin."

With a smirk, Mako allowed Korra to walk him towards the thick mass of dense bushes and followed her wordlessly through the jungle. She was careful to lift branches out of his way so that he would not run into them, and sometimes it meant that she had to hold her arm practically in front of him as he passed by a stubborn limb. A couple of times they were forced into some rather awkward and uncomfortable positions, but they were quick to move from these positions and moved on without mentioning them. After a few minutes, they made it through to the other side, and Korra helped Mako up onto the veranda.

"Yeah, as you probably noticed, the yard needs a little work," she told him laughing and he gave an acknowledging nod.

There were the sounds of struggling and groaning from where they had just come from, and turning their heads, Korra and Mako watched a very scathed-looking Bolin and Ikki emerged from the side of the house. Meelo came forward a few seconds later without a scratch on him.

"Great," she smiled at them, inwardly laughing at their appearances, "Hang on a second while I bend the lock open."

"There's a key under the loose shingle on the corner of the roof," Mako said as she dropped his arm, preparing bend the metal lock.

"You're _joking_," Korra groaned putting her hand to her forehead, "That would have saved me so much time if I had known!"

He shrugged slightly at her as she clambered up the post at the corner of the veranda, feeling around for the key. After a few seconds, her fingers brushed something cold and metallic, and she retracted her hand, the key clutched in her triumphant fist.

The door came open easily and the lot of them piled into the apartment. Having spoken with Tenzin about the lack of power, Korra was relieved to see that it had been turned back on when she flicked the light switch. They all entered the apartment and walked down the hall a little ways, coming across the kitchen.

"After we get things put away, I'll make everyone some lunch," she told the group, then turned to the young man whose arms she was linked with, "Still the same room, Mako?"

"Go across the hall from here, into the living room, and on the left side of the room there's another hallway. It's the second room on the right," Mako answered without hesitation, having already talked to Korra about sleeping arrangements.

"I thought as much," she replied nodding, then she turned to the group, "Can you please take my things there?"

_"What?"_ Bolin exclaimed loudly, and Korra flinched away slightly—not because she was intimidated, but because she was afraid to be flecked with spit, "You're going to be sleeping in _his_ room? Why not just take my old room?"

Jinora crossed her arms across her chest, a frown darkening her feminine features, "Korra…"

Even Meelo looked like he disapproved. Mako merely shrugged and let go of Korra, experimentally walking into the kitchen and sitting down on the floor when he came across the low table. Korra glowered at his back as he put his chin is his palm; she was hoping that he would at least help her defend her case, but it looked to her like he wanted no part in the upcoming disagreement.

"Okay, I am only going to say this once," she said with forced patience, a dangerous look behind her iridescent eyes, "so listen carefully. There is extra bedding in the hall closet, and a nice empty corner in Mako's bedroom. I am going to set up a futon in that corner and sleep _there_; here there are no healers to help Mako if he needs something in the middle of the night, so I have to be available at all times. So before any of you get the wrong idea, don't even go there. And Bolin, I don't want this spread throughout our friends, especially Asami. There's going to be gossip floating around for weeks as it is, what with me just living here. Now, are there any questions?"

There was a discomforting silence in the kitchen.

"Good," she said, uncrossing her arms, the diabolical glint behind her eyes dissipating, "Now, can you please put my things in Mako's room?"

The four of them shuffled quickly to Mako's room without complaint.

"I'll be back in a minute, Mako," she informed the sitting fire bender before following after his brother and their three friends.

Entering Mako's room, she saw that her bags had been set neatly in the room's center, and the four of them were standing around, awaiting instructions. There was nothing particularly special about Mako's room, a wardrobe was situated on the left wall and a small desk was in the back right corner. In the back left corner was a neatly made double bed, the frame designed to have a nightstand built onto the side, where a small lamp sat. There was a small window in the middle of the back wall, and a picture of The Fire Ferrets was sitting on the sill. A rubbish bin was in the close right corner, and a big empty space was in the close left.

"I was hoping to set up in this corner," she said indicating to the space between the wardrobe and the wall on the left side of the room, in the big empty space, "There's a futon in the room one door further from here; Jinora, Ikki and Meelo, could you get that? Bolin, come with me and help with the bedding."

Obediently, each went their respective ways, and Korra opened the door to the linen closet, standing on tiptoes to grab the thick blanket that she would be using.

"So," Bolin said in a low voice, "Why do you like my brother again?"

Korra shoved the folded blanket into his arms and he nearly toppled over from the force of the thrust, "I know he may seem a little distant right now, but he's always believed in me."

She saw the top of his brown-haired head shake from side to side. "I don't understand you Korra," his voice was muffled.

"Neither does he," she replied offhandedly, while amassing a number of pillows, "Okay, go back to the room, and watch your step."

They reentered Mako's room as Jinora and Ikki finished unfurling the futon, and she gave them both a grateful smile, "Thanks so much, you two."

"No, it's nothing, Korra," Jinora said, patting down the futon.

"I appreciate it, really," she replied smiling.

"Korra," Meelo's stifled voice called out, "What should I do with this?"

"You two go to the kitchen and see what there is in the cupboards, while Bolin will help me make the bed," Korra suggested, "I'll come make something when we're done."

After the two of them had left, Korra helped Bolin set the thick blanket on Mako's bed before they unfolded the sheets and spread it out over the mattress.

"I don't know if I like this situation, Korra," her best friend said after a minute, "I wasn't too pleased before, but I thought that you'd at least be in different rooms."

"That's not going to work," Korra replied tucking the sheet under one corner of the futon, "I have already explained why I need to be in this room. I also already emphasized to you that nothing is going to happen. Additionally, if it makes you feel any better, my mum knows that I'm going to be sharing a room with him."

Bolin sighed has he tucked in the corners at his end, "I suppose it makes me feel better in the sense that you're not hiding it from your parents, but it doesn't make me feel better about the fact that you're still sharing a room. I know my brother won't do anything but…"

"Just have a little faith in me," Korra stated, getting up and putting pillowcases on one of the three pillows she had grabbed, "It's a little insulting that you don't trust me."

"I'm sorry, Korra," he said with a sigh, grabbing a pillowcase for himself, "It's just that Mako has gone through a lot in the past year. He's bound to have changed."

"I have a feeling that I won't be here long enough him to have a chance to try anything," Korra replied, grabbing the final pillow and stuffing it aggressively into its case.

"I hope you're right," Bolin replied, tossing the pillow he held onto the futon, "The sooner you're out of here, the better, in my opinion."

"Just put up with it, okay?" Korra told him as they began to unfold the blanket, "And if anything happens, you have my permission to come over here and come after your brother, but understand that you'd probably have to get through me first."

Bolin shook his head in amazement, "I just can't believe how devoted you are."

"Live with it," Korra smirked, before leaving the room, making her way towards the kitchen.

Ikki and Meelo were sitting at the table across from Mako and when the two of them caught sight of Korra, they both fell silent. With disgust, Korra surmised that they were probably giving Mako a similar lecture like Bolin had just been giving her. She looked over at Jinora and pretended to not notice the silence that had blanketed the kitchen.

"What's there for food?" Korra asked her, looking at the empty table, expecting there to be something in the non-perishables that was available to eat.

"All the food has passed the expiry date," Jinora replied shaking her head, "There is nothing suitable in the cupboard to eat."

Korra sighed. They really shouldn't call it non-perishable if it was able to expire, no matter how much time would go by.

"Alright," Korra said heavily, "Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the markets. Who wants to come along?"

"I'll come!" Bolin exclaimed exuberantly, leaping to his feet, "I know the best kinds of instant noodles to buy!"

"I would like to accompany you as well," Jinora said.

"Anyone else?" Korra peered around the room.

"Oh me! Me too!" Ikki added.

"I don't want to stay alone here with him." Meelo grumbled.

"I'll stay here," Mako stated, his fingers laced together and resting under his nose.

"Alright then," she replied, knowing that she couldn't exactly argue—Mako shouldn't be left by himself but she was sure he'd appreciate some peace and quiet. "Mako, is there anything that you would like me to buy?"

He was quiet for a moment, "Seal jerky."

"Why the heck would you want her to buy seal jerky?" Bolin asked, giving Mako a look that read 'are we seriously related?'

"Because, bro, some people like seal jerky," Mako replied evenly, "That's why."

"Come on, let's go," Korra interjected before an argument could start.

On that last note, she shoved Bolin out of the room and quickly strode after him, the air bender kids bringing up the rear.

* * *

Pema waited until she heard the back door shut before she went and made her way into Mako's apartment. She felt as though she was trespassing, though she had promised to meet Korra, Bolin and her children at the apartment later that afternoon. Upon entering the hall way, she excused herself and made her way to what she assumed as the general direction of the kitchen.

She found the kitchen where Mako was sitting cross-legged at the table, his fingers laced together and resting against his lips; rich amber eyes were staring forward, unfocused.

She made to sit down opposite the fire bender boy that was the object of Avatar Korra's affections. Bowing her head slightly, she studied the quiet youth with interest

"I don't think I've ever had a chance to properly introduce myself," she said after a very pregnant pause, "I'm Pema, Tenzin's wife and mother to Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and baby Rohan."

"It's good to see you again, Pema" the boy replied evenly, but said nothing more.

"It has indeed, though for now I'd like to skip the pleasantries and address some issues I currently have," Pema said after another moment, her face becoming stern.

"If it's in regards to the situation in which Korra and I will be in while she stays here, then don't bother," Mako stated before Pema could say anything more, "I have already been spoken to about it."

"Well, it's partially about that," Pema said, with a sigh, "You see, Korra and I are very close—I see her as though she were my own. But ever since she's become a healer, I haven't seen her very much, so I worry for her, because I don't know what she's up to—if she's hanging around with the right crowds, and so on. I've always been on the lookout for her, and it really hurts me when she's distressed."

"I see," Mako replied levelly, not seeming particularly interested.

"I don't know if you've heard, but after you were taken, Korra fell into depression," Pema said austerely, willing that the fire bender would see the serious look that she was giving him.

"I've heard," Mako replied, "Bolin told me about it."

"Bolin doesn't know half of all that happened," Pema responded heavily, "Korra has an amazing talent for hiding her emotions when she doesn't want other people to know about how she's feeling. Or at least while she's in public. Korra was always cheerful and bright out in the open, smiling even though she was sad, and letting people think that she wasn't nearly upset as she was. Bolin's known her for a long time, and he could tell something was wrong, but he never saw what she was like in the confines of her room."

Mako turned his head slightly towards the greying woman, his face expressionless, and Pema found herself wondering if he was even reaching the cold youth.

"I had never seen her in a more terrible state. Every day she would come to Air Temple Island and lock herself in her room, and wouldn't come out unless it were mealtime. At the dinner table it would be apparent that she had been crying, and she refused to talk about it when we asked," Pema said darkly, "Sometimes I would go and talk to her, and every time that I entered her room, she would be holding that picture of your team, or looking at it. Sometimes she'd be crying, other times she would just be staring blankly at it. I could never get anything out of her, but I tried to comfort her in any way I could, though nothing really worked.

"After Rohan was born, I wasn't available to check up on her as often, and I frequently worried. I don't think that she ever sought suicide as an answer—that wouldn't solve her problems. As for self-inflicted pain, I don't think that ever happened either, but she was so depressed that it tore the hearts of her parents, and mine and Tenzin's too.

"Things got better once she started training under Katara. She had told me over and over that she felt so useless, just sitting around on missions, not doing anything—I didn't believe her, but she was so much happier when she became a healer. I guess she didn't feel so worthless now that she felt she could do something.

"Her depression spread out over nearly a year, and it's only the past few months that she's finally been the Korra I've known my whole life. In fact, right now is probably the happiest I've ever seen her. She really did miss you, and I just want you to know that if you _ever_ do anything to harm her again, I am going to have to punish you."

"I had no intention of causing Korra such psychological trauma," Mako said after a while, his voice devoid of emotion, "But you should know that I had no say in what happened— She probably hasn't told you that when Amon had captured me, that she asked me to take him to take her with him."

Pema looked over at the boy with a confused and surprised look, "No, she didn't."

"Korra is my teammate and friend, and I would never allow Amon to endanger her," Mako continued, closing his eyes in thought.

"So Korra asked to be taken with you?" Pema asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"She had pleaded with Amon at some stage during the kafuffle, yes," Mako admitted in a matter-of-fact tone, "In a way I wish that she had been taken; more or less because the prospect of being alone frightened me at the time. I was a boy then. But it would have been foolish if she had been taken along with myself. And I am sure that you can agree it was better to have her here than to have her within Amon's grasp. Whatever she has endured here is merciful compared to what she would have felt if she had been taken her along with me."

"I'm glad she wasn't taken," Pema said after a minute, "though having lost you for more than a year was the compromise for her safety."

A twisted smile appeared on the lips of the fire bender.

"Anyway," Pema said, changing the topic, convinced that Mako was at least respectful towards Korra's feelings, "I'm not going to lecture you over sleeping arrangements. Even though I can't say I'm pleased with it, Korra has assured me that things will be fine, so I believe her."

"If you want to hear the same from me, then know that I have no interest in Korra whatsoever—in _that_ respect." Mako said evenly, an icy quality in his voice, picking up on the undertone of warning in Pema's statement, "If I felt that there was another way, I would choose that instead. Korra and I have already discussed the situation, and we both knew that there would be some controversy."

Pema looked suspiciously over at Mako and narrowed her jade green eyes perceptively. A feeling of doubt hung in her heart as her mind considered that what Mako said was contradicting how the fire bender possibly truly felt, whether he knew it himself or not. While still doubtful, she said nothing more on the matter, and decided to change the topic of conversation.

* * *

Review!


	14. Chapter 14

Fade to Black: Chapter Thirteen

* * *

Mako heard Korra impart some departing words to the group that had just spent the noon hour with them, and close the door soon afterwards. He himself was chewing on a piece of seal jerky that Korra had put out for him. He chewed slowly on the piece, listening carefully for Korra's approaching footsteps while he savored the salty flavour of the jerky, enjoying the taste of it.

He caught the sound of Korra's footfalls as she walked back down the hall and towards the kitchen; she sighed heavily as she entered before taking a seat down opposite him. He watched her flop down across the table that was amid with dirty dishes.

"I can't believe them sometimes," he watched her say, her voice muffled.

He raised a composed eyebrow, taking another piece of jerky. "Why is that?" he asked her.

"They each gave me a talking to about the accommodation arrangements," she said, sounding like she was sitting up, " 'I don't know about this, Korra.' 'I'm not comfortable with this, Korra.' 'Be careful, Korra.' Honestly!"

He smirked slightly, "It's not like we weren't expecting something like this."

"I know, I know—I just thought that they would be a little more understanding, and not so against it. I mean, we both are clear of the situation, we're sensible, and it's not like it's going to be forever," Korra replied wearily, then after a moment, added with a tone with grim amusement, "It's kinda funny—they were all worried about you trying something, but nobody seemed worried that _I'd_ try and seduce _you_. A little unfair if you ask me."

"I'm single, a supposed criminal, older and male," he told her simply, "I fit the stereotypical profile."

"Yeah, yeah," Korra replied offhandedly, "But I would have thought that Bo would have trusted us…"

She trailed off and sighed. She got to her feet, and after a few seconds he heard a cupboard open, followed by the clattering of dishes.

"I could have sworn I saw a teapot around here somewhere…" he heard her mutter to herself; Mako just put another piece of jerky in his mouth, "—Aha! Do you want some tea, Mako?"

"Sure."

"Any particular kind? I bought some regular tea, green tea and some ginseng tea," she asked him kindly while he heard the tap come on.

"It doesn't matter," he replied, poking around the dish for any more pieces of jerky, but found no more. He set his chopsticks aside and watched Korra scuffle about the room; he put his chin in his palm and thought about his own share of lectures. As he listened to Korra prattle on happily about being able to find everything that was on her shopping list, he found it hard to imagine her in the depressive state that Pema had described her in.

Bolin had said it was bad; Pema had said it was worse. Yet as he sat in the kitchen, Korra brewing a pot of tea and chatting away, he couldn't help but get the feeling that he was missing something. She had missed him, they said, but she showed no signs of being overjoyed at his return. She had been so depressed, they had told him, yet she was so cheerful now, and showed no indication of ever being in that state.

He jumped slightly as there was a light 'thunk' of a mug of steaming tea being set before him, the noise jolting him out of his thoughts.

"I made it mild, but I can get you a stronger cup if you like," Korra said warmly, seeming to have gotten over the lectures she got.

"This is fine," he told her, feeling for the mug in the direction of the noise.

He found the cup to the left of his hand, and wrapped his hands around the warm crockery, feeling the heat in his hands. Taking a sip, he noted that it was a little weaker than he usually liked, but did not want to bother her for more, so he just drank it quietly.

Within the single week he had been back in Republic City, he had come to grow used to Korra helping him, and didn't mind so much anymore. She in turn had become accustomed to warn him about little things in the area that he would be unaware of, giving him the heads up before he discovered it the hard way. Her descriptions were still so-so, but he supposed they were a little better than before, and they sufficed enough to understand what it was that she was talking about.

She hadn't described the house to him, not that she needed to really; he had lived many years in this place, and there were memories of each room that he held clear in his mind—some considerably less pleasant than others. Unless the City council had upended his apartment in order to come up with any more non-existent evidence that he had long-term dealings with Amon, things should have been left the same. He didn't know if anyone had bothered to sort through the belongings from his apartment and wondered if they were sitting in some heap in the house somewhere.

"You seem preoccupied," Korra told him from across the table, "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing important," he replied before taking another sip from his tea, "What were you planning on doing this afternoon?"

"Well, there are an endless number of things that need to be done this afternoon," she said serenely, and there was a small noise that suggested she was stirring her tea in an absent-minded fashion, "Having already cleaned the apartment shortened the list considerably, seeing as all the clothes, bedding and dishes have been washed. But I still need to wash the dishes from lunch today and unpack, which I'm guessing might take half the afternoon."

"You brought too many things if it is going to take you that long to unpack," he mused quietly.

"Well, we'll just see how long it actually takes," she replied in that tone of voice that made him imagine her smiling, "And I'm feeling really tired too. Having a low energy reserve and dealing with Asami are taking their toll."

"I don't think I've heard anyone shout like that before," he told her smirking, and to his amusement, she managed to choke on her tea.

"Were we really that loud?" she asked him, sounding embarrassed, "I didn't think you'd be able to hear us."

He shrugged slightly.

"Yeah…" Korra laughed uneasily, before abruptly changing the topic, "I think I'm going to start washing the dishes."

He snorted slightly in amusement and drank the rest of his tea, setting the mug out with the tray that had held the jerky strips. Korra cleared the dishes away in a few minutes and there was the sound of running water as she filled up the sink. The quiet sound of scrubbing reached his ears as Korra began to wash down the dishes; he could see her in his mind's eye standing where his mother would have stood, quietly ridding the tableware of bits of food. Seeing Korra standing there in that exact same spot, seeing her in his mind, standing happily and quietly, he was strongly reminded of his mother. And it was strange, but to him, Korra just seemed to fit there, to sit nicely in the picture, to just…belong.

"You're quiet," she said after a moment, "Quieter than usual, that is."

"I haven't been in this apartment for nearly two years," he replied, she turned to face him, a concerned expression on her face.

"Oh, that's right," she said kindly, the quiet scrubbing noise in the background, "This must be a memory-invoking experience for you right now."

Though it was left unmentioned, the event of his parents murder came to both their minds, hanging suspended tensely in the air. She had no idea.

"Hm."

"The familiarity of the apartment should help you adapt to the new location fairly quickly. I hope that in a few weeks you'll be able to make your way about the building on your own," Korra continued, veering the conversation in a slightly different direction, causing the tension to go slack, "It should help you get used to walking around without having another reference point to gage your direction off of. I mean, you'll always need help when presented to new locations, but once you're familiar with an area, you should be fine on your own. –You're a private person, Mako, and I know that having to rely on me is probably not how you would normally have things, but its only for a little while."

"How long?" he asked, sounding a little ruder than he had intended.

"It's different for each person, but knowing you, it could be two month to three months," Korra replied thoughtfully before she pulled the plug in the sink and allowing the water to drain away; an interesting sound, "I was planning on training you throughout the processes, and help you master the basics in your current state, however when the rehab is finished, you can have me continue to stay here and assist you, or you can send me home and I can come over everyday instead."

"I see," he considered both options in his head. While it would be more convenient for Korra to stay living in his apartment he thought maybe sending her home would be better. There would only be more controversy if she stayed longer, and he did not enjoy being threatened by Bolin, no matter ridiculous or empty the threats sounded.

"You don't have to decide now," she said, as there was the occasional clanks of dishes, now that she was water bending them dry, "It's still a little early to tell where we'll be at that point. You might have gotten a handle on your skills before rehab is finished, though I doubt it'll be that easy."

That was true, he pondered to himself, raising his chin off of his palm and lacing his fingers together, resting his hands on his lips. He would see how things went with Korra living with him before considering what action to take—she was being almost the opposite of her former self, and he supposed that she had been very tolerable up to this point, so living with her might not end up so bad. And as she said before, it was only for a short time—a couple months—and even if he couldn't stand her presence, she'd be gone after a time.

"After you've unpacked, what were you planning to do for the rest of the afternoon?" he asked as she placed the dishes in their respective cupboards.

"Well, it's up to you really," she said passively, closing a cupboard door, "I was thinking we could go out for our afternoon stroll, or we could skip that and go directly to object recognition, or we could go out into the jungle that's your courtyard and begin preparing you to get back on training—but I wouldn't recommend that…I want the grass to be mowed first, and the weeds cleared out. I was going to see if the air bender kids wanted to help out."

He smirked slightly; "Bolin would disapprove of you giving a lame task to a group of capable benders."

Korra gave a musical laugh, "I suppose he would, but if he has any complaints, he can do it himself—without lunch. Anyway, here's my question for you: what do you want to do while I'm unpacking?"

"I'll keep you company," he replied after a moment; he didn't need to look at her in order to know that Korra was giving him a surprised look. He gave a light shrug—it wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway.

* * *

Korra spent the better part of the afternoon unpacking her things, putting her packed clothes in the other end of Mako's wardrobe, and setting up her toiletries in the bathroom out of the way. She took the small lamp that was sitting on Mako's desk and set it up in a convenient gap between her futon and the wardrobe door. She also managed to find a place to put a number of her books where Mako wouldn't accidentally stumble over them; she wanted to keep on top of her studies, despite the time she would have off from the hospital.

Mako had sat around on his bed, his back against the wall, silent for the most part. She tried to make chitchat, but his responses were direct, abrupt and impossible to build on. It was hard to tell what Mako was feeling most of the time, and she was wondering what he was thinking about that caused him to be distant today—more distant than usual, she added mentally. There wasn't much for him to do around here—It was too early for him to be training; he still was having difficulties standing on his own for extended periods of time.

The garden was not ideal for training at the moment either, as she had said earlier to him, and this set back plans yet another day. She knew that Mako didn't like to sit around and do nothing; he would always find some sort of training to do, to refine his skills. But wait—there was perhaps something they could do as far as training went.

"Mako?" Korra inquired straightening up and stretching out as she finished organising the last of her things, "I think I thought of something we could do for training."

"Hm?"

She smiled slightly at the inquisitive sound, "We could practice your fire bending forms. You haven't been at practice with those in days—I'm sure you don't want to get rusty."

"There's a small lake in a park near here," he told her, reaching for her arm as she came to help him stand up, "I used to practice there in order to keep from burning anything down."

"We'll go there then," she smiled, leading him carefully from the room.

The journey through the apartment was fine, as Mako knew the area, and apart from a little miscalculation in relativity—being a lot larger than he was when he was seventeen—he did just fine. The trek through the side path was a little more treacherous as she was afraid a branch would poke his newly healed hands. It was when they were maneuvering around a particularly invasive bacui berry bush that Korra found herself rather frustrated.

"You know, this really is impractical," she remarked with a frown, hating the introduced species—bacui bushes thrived in Republic City and if it was left alone could cause a ton of trouble when someone tried to get rid of them.

After making it through the yard again, Mako told her that there was no spare key to the front gate, which meant they'd have to jump over it again. Considering that Jinora was unavailable to assist Mako, and they had no idea if there were any people on the other side of the gate, Korra was a little uncertain about the jump.

Korra had jokingly suggested that she use her lightning bending to blast the gate away, but she received a blunt and serious answer of 'no.' It was only after Korra had checked that there were no people on the other side that the decided it was probably best if they just jump, whether Jinora was there or not. As they sailed through the air, Korra hoped that they would land all right, because she really did not think she was up to healing any snapped bones at the moment. Apart from Mako stumbling so terribly that it was laughable, he managed to get over unscathed, and Korra wondered dimly in her mind how on earth she could help him regain his jumping skills.

There were numerous, unmerciful stares at the two of them as they walked down the road, Mako giving her directions, and Korra glowered at anyone who had their gaze lingering too long on the both of them, knowing that the gossip around this part of town was notorious. Korra was determined to make sure that Mako would never hear any of these rumors, knowing that they would probably make him angry.

"I remember this park…" Korra said as they approached it from down the path, "I sometimes would come here with Jinora and Ikki to gather flowers for Air Temple Island. It hasn't changed much from that time…the trees are bigger, as is to be expected, but…"

"And the lake?" he asked her as they drew closer.

"It looks a little gross today because it's reflecting the overcast sky, but it's not raining, so I suppose I shouldn't complain."

That last statement brought to mind the conversation she had had with Mako after he had finished talking with Kya, questioning him casually over why he had been concerned over why she was out in the rain or not. He gave a typical Mako kind of answer, and Korra wondered why she had been so surprised. Of course Mako wouldn't want a sick healer, why else would he care? Her own illness would hinder his recovery.

She hadn't bothered to explain to him that you could not catch a cold from being out in the rain, but the cold weather would weaken your body so that you were more susceptible to catching something from someone else. Either that or you could get hypothermia, but only if you stayed outside for a ridiculously long time and it was a lot colder than it had been when they were outside.

"Is the dock fastened down?" she asked him as they descended the walking path down to the lakebed, "Or does it change with the water level of the lake?"/pp

"It is fastened down," he replied evenly, "Why?"

"Well, you feel dizzy and unsteady without my holding onto you, and I can't imagine a wobbling dock would make you feel any better," she mused lightly, taking a turn towards the dock.

"How wide across do you think the lake is?" he asked her, not going further into the matter.

"Um, about a hundred meters across both ways," she replied, taking her turn to ask a question, "How come?"

"For when I practice my bending. My techniques are more powerful than before I left, I don't want to scorch the other side," he replied, "It should be fine as long as I just practice the minor ones."

At the end of the dock, Korra let go of Mako's arm and took a step away from him, close enough to grab him if the lightheadedness overrode his sense of balance and caused him to fall over. He braced his feet into a defensive stance, preparing himself for training.

"Show me all the forms," she instructed, clasping her hands behind her, "Just to see how well you do them without hand-eye coordination—remember how _ would always reprimand the students who looked at their hands while doing the different forms? Yeah, well, just checking."

He showed her each of the twelve different hand signs that were unique to each different fire bending forms, starting with the _and ending in the_ form. Impressed, but not the least bit surprised, she uttered a small 'okay' and stood behind him as he began to work out a pattern of hand signs to use the first fire bending move. But of course no flames erupted from his hands. Korra smiled sadly. His form was a marvel to witness.

"Do you mind if I try?" She asked a moment later, making her way to stand beside Mako.

"Hm. Go ahead."

As she took her bending stance and performed the last position, she brought her hand to her mouth, and holding her fingers together so that it looked like a pipe was between her fingers, she exhaled with a great force, fire spilling out over the lake's waters. Mako couldn't remember the name, but he had seen this technique before; this time, however, it was probably eight, or ten times larger than he had seen it before. The huge fireball easily covered the lake's entire surface, reaching a height as tall as the hospital. His eyes widened as she continued to blow, the duration lasting considerably longer than he had expected. The scorching heat of the flames washed over him and he gazed in amazement as the center of the enormous mass of fire glowed white hot. After a couple more minutes, the fireball died away, and Mako straightened up, a crooked smile on her lips.

Mako stared out over the lake, the water level was lower and there was a distinct dampness from the steam in the air. "Wow, Korra, that was just—" he started, absolutely amazed, but then was cut off as he noted on the far side of the lake, the grass had caught fire, "—flameo."

"What?" she asked him, turning to face him, realising what it was that had caught his eye as she did.

She used the last of her expendable energy to force the water's mass to roll up onto the far shore, extinguishing the flames that had begun to spread. After all the flames had been encompassed by water, she let her grasp on it go, and it rolled neatly back down the hill into the lake. She blushed as she saw that a number of people who were out for a stroll had stopped and stared at the two of them on the dock.

"I think you underestimated yourself," he told Mako as her inquisitive look had turned into a troubled frown, "Don't worry, you extinguished the flames on the other side of the lake, but I think we need a better practice spot."

A grin passed over Korra's face, and she was sure that he found the whole prospect amusing rather than alarming.

"And we'll have to wait for a torrent of rainstorms before the lake water level will return to normal," she added, a smile coming to her face, "Either we can continue to evaporate the lake, or we can work instead on energy control."

"It always had too much water in it," he told her, turning towards the lake again, starting a routine of different bending forms, "But try not to incinerate the other side."

* * *

It was late evening when the two of them arrived home, having spent the duration of the afternoon reviewing Mako's basic forms and Korra's fire bending techniques, leaving the lake considerably emptier than before. They made a stop at Air Temple Island on the way home so that Korra could pop in and ask if the air bender kids wouldn't mind coming over to come clean out the yard. Korra was impressed that Mako managed all the stairs just fine, only stumbling once when she had failed to tell him when the stairs ended at the top. Korra was still reeling for letting it slip.

By the time they reached the apartment block, the both of them were feeling exhausted from the over-use of energy, and Korra didn't want to deal with jumping the fence again, so she merely used her last remaining strength to tear the lock off of the gate.

Mako had snickered slightly at her impatience and she decided to just ignore it, not knowing what to say in response anyway. She had then made a light supper, in which they had lightly discussed the upcoming night's sleep; Korra had then quickly washed the dishes and helped Mako to his feet, holding on to his arm as they both headed to the bathroom.

"Here, let me help you with that," she said kindly, taking the toothbrush from him, which he was determinedly trying to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush, without missing it. He handed her the toothbrush roughly, shoving his hands in his pockets afterwards, glowering in a frustrated manner. She merely smiled as she dabbed a pea-sized gob of toothpaste on the end of the brush before rinsing it with a little bit of water.

"Here—it's mint, I hope you don't mind," she said as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, extending one towards her. She took his hand and brushed her thumb over the back, handing him the brush with her other hand. She watched with slight interest as he applied toothpaste to the head of the brush before sticking it in his mouth.

Korra applied some toothpaste to her own brush as she watched Mako in the mirror. It was easy for him to brush his teeth, as it was a task mainly done by feel, not requiring much hand to eye coordination. A spark of curiosity came to her as she noted that Mako was brushing his teeth in a somewhat hurried manner, brushing quickly over one spot a number of times for a short duration before switching to another spot. She herself was brushing her own teeth at an slower pace, and as she was only switching to the second portion of her mouth, Mako put his free hand on the vanity. He elbowed her gently and she shifted away so that he could spit the toothpaste into the basin. She blinked at him.

"Do you always brush your teeth that quickly?" she asked him, her own toothbrush still in her mouth.

He nodded in response as he began to open the vanity cupboards in search of a glass.

"Upper right," she told him, leaning against the vanity while his hand clasped the cup.

When he was finished filling the glass with water, Korra took the moment to spit her toothpaste into the sink and reach for her own glass. They had really pushed their limits that day; she had sat him through a two hour healing session that morning, which had drained almost all of her energy, and the last of it had been used to extinguish the flames that had sprung up after she had used the _. Meanwhile, he himself had used his energy on the forms of bending, and while he had been holding back, the performance had been spectacular—and draining.

"I'm going to go to bed," he said putting his glass down on the vanity, his hand bracing against the wall of the small room. Even though it was a basic statement, she knew that he was asking her to take him to his room.

"Okay."

Walking over to him, she grasped his arm securely and led him out of the room and the short distance from the bathroom to his bedroom. She sat him down on the edge of the bed and then proceeded to make her way to one of her bags by her futon, digging around for the pair of pajamas she had brought. Behind her, she heard Mako moving around, and glancing over her shoulder, she saw that he had taken off his shirt and let it drop to the floor. Despite his near 24 month interment his physique had not suffered. _'Woah…'_

Either ignoring her, or simply not noticing that she was watching him, he crawled into his bed. He lay down, pulling the covers up to his chin, facing the wall.

She turned back to her bag; after grabbing the folded pajamas she had set on top, she straightened up and headed to the doorway. "I'm going to go change," she told him, lingering in the doorframe of the room.

"Okay."

She quickly changed in the bathroom, pulling on the pale blue flannel pajama pants and a white tank top, her mind rather fogged, as though she were running on autopilot. Wandering back to Mako's room, clutching her dirty clothes in her arms, she looked over at his form in the bed before putting her laundry aside. She went over and picked up his discarded shirt and frowned faintly at him. Tossing the shirt at his resting form, she mused at his small jump when it landed on him.

"Don't leave your dirty clothes on the floor," she reprimanded, throwing back the covers of her own futon, "This is my room too now, and I don't want it messy."

She heard a quiet 'tch'.

"Don't 'tch' me," she said with a small smirk, "Leave anything more on the floor and you'll end up tripping on it—or I'll throw it at you."

Flopping down onto her futon she snuggled down amongst the blankets, rolling onto her side, her arms reflexively seizing one of the extra pillows. She had always been that way, ever since she was a child—she had always felt the need to hang onto something when she slept.

As a child her favourite stuffed animal had been squeezed to death while Korra slept, but now she usually snuggled into Naga's warm fur.

"Just so you know," she said to Mako after a quiet minute, "I hardly move in my sleep, just so you don't think I'm dead or anything."

"I know you don't move around a lot in your sleep," he replied quietly, "Sometimes on our when we'd be staying at Air Temple Island Bolin would get up and check on you, just to make sure that you _weren't_ dead. I hardly got any sleep because of it sometimes."

So that's what Bolin had been doing when she woke sometimes to find him peering down at her. Whoops, guess she owed him some apologies for hitting him so hard. But she had forgotten that Mako had been there with them, too. She blushed; sometimes it was hard to remember that Mako was the same person who had been on those sleepovers with his brother and herself just a year ago. Some elements of him were familiar, but others made him seem like a total stranger.

"Well, sometimes _I _couldn't sleep because he was moving around _too_ much," she retorted quietly, burying her face in the pillow she had clutched to her chest.

He gave a light snort in amusement.

Closing her eyes, she let out a tired sigh, looking forward to the sleep that was needed. Not only as energy was low within her, exhaustion from the past week was catching up with her. Dimly she noted that she needed to find some time for her own training; if she needed to train Mako as well, it would not do good to fall out of shape. She should probably see if she could find some others willing to help her train Mako, because training against one opponent wouldn't help him improve.

"Korra?"

"Yeah?" she murmured sleepily, her mind hazy.

"Pema's a great woman," Mako said after a moment.

She rolled slightly onto her back, and peered at his bare back from over her shoulder in an inquisitive manner. "Huh—? Well, I mean, I know, but… Why? What did she say to you?"

"I was given a lecture," came the quiet reply, seemingly amused.

"Not you too, Pema," she muttered quietly to the ceiling, then glanced over at Mako again, "And that makes you think she's a 'great woman'?"

"She's looking out for you," Mako stated evenly, still not moving from his position, "She expressed concern for your well being."

"Sometimes I wish she wouldn't," Korra sighed, rolling to lie fully on her back, her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"You are lucky to have someone who does," Mako said sharply, rolling onto his back so that his face was turned towards her, an intense and serious frown on his face, "And don't _ever_ take that for granted, Korra."

A surprised look came to her own face, staring back at him in shock. There was a severity in his words that just challenged her to tell him that she couldn't care less about how Pema felt about her. Which wasn't true, of course. She blinked, and then slowly realisation dawned on her, a notion coming to her. It would explain why he felt so strongly as he did about the issue.

"She's very mothering, isn't she?" she replied so quietly that she was barely audible to even herself.

"That's not the point," he shot angrily, rolling onto his side again, facing the wall.

Korra firmly believed that it was, but didn't say anything else. She tried to imagine what it would be like to have grown up without parents, but couldn't even begin to grasp what Mako had felt to watch his parents cut down in front of him.

"Pema and I are close."

"How long have you known her?" Mako asked after a contemplative moment.

"Since I was first proclaimed the Avatar." Korra replied, her need for sleep seeming to have been dissipated and forgotten, "Both her and Tenzin have always looked out for me when my parents weren't able to."

Mako was silent for a moment, like he was thinking about something. "They're great people," he told her again, before falling quiet.

She knew what he said was true—having been on a team with both Mako and Bolin, who both had no family left, she had come to appreciate her own family more than she had before. But right now, as she stared a Mako's back, she would have given anything at that moment, even her family, to have Pema be a mother to Mako and Bolin like she was to her.

* * *

Not a particularly plot based chapter, but part of the story none the less. Review! :)


	15. Chapter 15

Fade to Black: Chapter Fourteen

* * *

A loud rumbling and roar, followed by a thunderous puttering, is what caused Mako to sit bolt upright in his bed, reaching for a knife that he remembered was nearby. After groping around near his bedside for a second, he fingers brushed over his tattered old scarf and paused. No, he wasn't in Amon's underground fortress—they weren't under attack. The darkness around him wasn't from the dark windowless room, but rather the temporary that he suffered. He was in his bed, in his old apartment, in Republic City, located within the United Republic of Nations. He shook his head at his reaction, but old habits die hard.

A frown creased his brow as he continued to pull himself into an upright position in his bed; what was that dratted sound? He could determine that the rumbling was coming from outside, somewhere in the backyard, and moving around. But what on earth was it? Had it woken Korra up? He turned his head towards her corner of the bedroom.

"Korra?"

There was no response, and as he listened carefully, he could not hear any breathing. Perhaps it was the thunderous roar from outside, or maybe it was simply because breathing was so quiet, but he couldn't tell if she was there or not.

"Korra?" he inquired a little louder, but still received no response.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he tried standing up, holding out his hands for balance. There was a bit of vertigo, but he took a careful step forward, his world steadying slightly as it made fresh contact with the ground. Holding his had out in front of him, he took careful steps until his hand bumped into a wall, causing him to start slightly. He listened carefully again for signs of breathing, knowing that he was nearer to where Korra slept. He didn't catch the sound of inhalation or exhalation, but he did hear the clink of dishes coming from the general direction of the kitchen. He took a few steps sideways, slowly overcoming his dizziness, and poked his head out the door.

_"Korra?!"_ he called louder, and there was an abrupt clatter in response, followed by hurried footsteps.

"Oh! Mako, you're awake!" came Korra's concerned voice, "I was just about to come check on you. You didn't hurt yourself crossing the room did you?"

Shaking his head, he mused quietly over her fretting, but paid no attention to it. "What time is it? And what is that sound?"

"Oh, the air bender kids are currently cleaning out the yard and that's Kai operating the lawn mower," Korra replied offhandedly, "And it's about eleven o'clock in the morning. You looked tired, so I let you sleep in."

"Thanks"

"Anyway, do you need any help getting washed up?" she asked him in a cheerful manner, "I've already set out some clean clothes for you in the bathroom."

He shook his head again at her, and offered her his arm, "Just get me to the bathroom and I'll be able to manage."

Giving a small 'okay' she took his arm and led him down the hall to the bathroom, Mako counting the footsteps as they went. About twelve, he noted to himself as she placed his hand on the doorframe.

"I've already set out some clothes for you, and there's stack of towels in the cupboard, nearest to the shower," she told him, "Oh, and don't leave your dirty clothes and towels on the floor. When you're done, just give me a shout, I'll be in the kitchen."

He nodded once and watched after her as she turned and left down the hall, humming a tune quietly to herself. He caught a few notes and paused a moment, the tune sounded vaguely familiar. Shrugging the thought from his mind he entered the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him. Running his hand on the counter, his hand brushing his clothes, then the towels once he got past the sink. He shed his clothes and stepped inside the shower, turning on the cold water.

The icy sensation caused his mind to clear instantly, and after a few minutes of standing still, he reached for the hot water tap. He slept better than he had thought he would, having being back in his old apartment; all things considered, he was very surprised that his sleep had been so dreamless. There were so many memories that he had tied back to this apartment, most of them bad, and those were the ones that stood out the clearest. Korra had told him that he had appeared tired, and let him sleep in. It was most likely the exhaustion from using so much energy the previous day that had drained him—whatever the reason, he was thankful for a peaceful night's rest.

After a little while longer, he turned off the water and toweled himself dry; taking the clean clothes that Korra had set out for him, he dressed quickly. He was hit by another spell of dizziness when he took his hand off the counter to pull on his shorts, and held his forehead with his hand on the wall until he could balance again. Removing his fingers from his forehead and running them down his neck, he thought of the scarf that Bolin had returned to him; it was still resting on his bedside table.

He opened the door and listened carefully. He could hear Korra in the kitchen, talking to somebody—maybe that Kai she had spoken of. No, but the lawn mower was still going outside, so it was most likely one of the other airbenders that had come to help. The notion brought a small nostalgic smile to his face—he could recall the times when Team Avatar had spent time helping out around air temple island, Bolin complaining loudly while he, Asami and Korra put up with it. He heard Korra's musical laugh come from the kitchen as more dishes clattered—sounds that indicated she was handling some glasses.

He thought of calling out to her, but then changed his mind—it wasn't far to the bedroom, and he probably wouldn't need her help anyways. As long as he could keep a hand against the wall, and took is slowly, he should be okay. Taking a few tentative steps into the hall, he placed each footfall with care; the hand on the wall slightly in front so that he could tell when he came to the door, instead of falling over like he had at the junction in the hospital.

Crossing the room was a more difficult matter as he found that Korra had placed a number of objects around her corner of the room—his throbbing toes told him that they were books, heavy books. He couldn't walk along the wall's edge then to help with his lack of balance and strength, he surmised, not if he was going to trip over heavy books and who knew what else.

He released the wall and stood for a moment, his feet braced as the dizziness slowly crept up on him. Taking a step forward he carefully mapped out the room in his mind, placing special emphasis on the books he had knocked his toes on. He took a few more steps and found that if he concentrated, it wasn't too difficult; if he placed a mental image in his head of where things were, opposed to just wondering where they were, then his balanced steadied slightly.

Standing near where the bed was, he estimated in his head how far the distance from where he was standing to the bed was. Unfortunately, balancing without his hand resting on a flat surface for support was still was beyond him and he wobbled precariously, and tipped forward. His loud curse word was muffled as he landed face-first into his mattress. He had been able make into the room, but he had been unable to reach it without his lack of balance causing difficulty for him. Scowling, he picked himself up and reached for the red scarf; after tying it comfortably around his neck, he decided to take another stab at walking on his own.

As he made his way across the room, he was thankful that there was no one watching, as he found it very humiliating to be cautiously crossing a bare floor, with nothing but the wall and Korra's books to be worried about tripping over. When he almost repeated the incident of crashing into the doorframe like he had done at the hospital, he grudgingly decided that he couldn't take any more. He didn't want to call for Korra—but he would rather be devoid of bruises on his sallow skin.

"Korra," he called loudly out of the doorway and the chattering stopped from the kitchen.

When she arrived, he didn't allow her time to speak as he offered her his arm. Her gentle grasp held onto him securely and he could see the slight frown that decorated her face at that moment.

"What are you doing all the way over here?" she asked, her voice laced with concern, "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"No."

"Good," she scolded sternly, "I think it's still too early for you to be walking on your own. I mean we'll gradually work at it, but we should practice on your balance first."

"We'll start this afternoon," he told her, giving her a small nudge, indicating that he did not want to continue to stand around.

She gave a small sigh, "If you insist, Mako. But we'll wait until the yard's done. I've got something else for you to do in the meantime."

She led him down the hall into the living room, before turning and heading down the side hall that went outside to the backyard. A slight frown marred his face.

"Where are we going?" he asked her as she opened the back door, the whirring of the lawn mower still putting around outside.

"Out back," she replied simply, "It's a nice day outside today and it's stupid to sit around indoors."

Mercifully the noise of the lawn mower stopped as they exited onto the veranda. It felt warm outside, and there was a slight breeze blowing over the garden, giving the occasional rustle. There were a few birds were chirping in the trees, and a clear odor of freshly cut grass hung in the vicinity. Korra guided him forward and he could see that the edge of the porch was drawing near; he trusted her judgment, but knowing it was there made him a little apprehensive.

"Sit down here," she told him kindly.

He complied by dropping to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the wooden flooring. He leant against one of the columns that were holding up the roof of the small verandah.

"Korra!" came the voice of Ikki from behind, Mako couldn't remember how old she was, maybe eight or nine, "Do you need anymore help in the kitchen?"

"No, Ikki," Korra said, "Can you finish up that one flowerbed?"

"Sure!"

Ikki energetically rushed by Mako, grinning at him as she did as Korra returned inside; he sat quietly, taking in his surroundings. He watched Tenzin's three children running across the lawn.

"Kai, are you taking _another_ break?" he heard Ikki exclaim in exasperation.

Kai…that was the kid that Bolin had mentioned when he'd visited the hospital, Mako remembered; that's why the name had seemed familiar to him. Apparently Bolin had grown quite fond of him.

"No, I'm done mowing the lawn," came the boys reply, "I'm just waiting for—"

Footsteps behind him told Mako that Korra had returned and there was a slight clinking that came with her.

"Yay!" came the voice of Kai, "Lemonade!"

He acted like Bolin too.

Giving a light laugh, Korra set a tray of glasses down beside him, "Do you want some lemonade, City bo-…Mako?"

"Hm," he responded automatically.

His mind had just become preoccupied as he noticed she had corrected herself and dropped the 'city boy' nickname. Mentally he frowned, not that it bothered him that she didn't say her old nickname for him, but it was the fact that it had slipped out, that suggested to him that she still regarded him in a way she had before he had been captured. However when she had corrected herself, a small sense of surprise came to him. He had thought before when she hadn't used the countless nicknames she had for him, that it had meant that she had held something against him, or something had changed between them, and he shrugged it off, knowing that it was most likely to be expected. But she had just corrected herself, which meant that either it was out of habit, or she was trying to avoid saying it for some reason or another.

"Can I have another glass, Korra?" the youngest, Meelo, asked in an exuberant fashion.

"Hey, I haven't even given everyone their first glass," she scolded with a playful grin, "You can have another one when everyone else has gotten one."

There was the clinking of ice against glass as she poured some more glasses beside him, and nudging his arm, she handed him one. He muttered a quiet, automatic "thank you" and took a sip from the glass while she cheerfully handed out others to the group of air benders that were crowding around them. He couldn't say that he particularly liked children—especially loud and obnoxious ones like Ikki, he added as Meelo let out another exuberant exclamation. Once the children had had their fill of lemonade and returned out the yard, he told Korra so.

"What will you do when you have children?" she laughed, sitting down beside him, her legs hanging over the edge of the veranda—he watched as her feet occasionally bumped the wooden overhang, "I'm sure they'll be loud and energetic too."

"They'll be like me," he stated indignantly.

"Oh, and you think children are quiet and calm? Don't you have a thing or two coming…" she teased him, and then there was the jingling of ice as she took another sip of lemonade.

He grunted in reply and took a sip of his own lemonade, noting that it was made perfectly—it was not too sweet and was a little on the sour side.

"I don't know, Mako," she said after a moment, swirling the ice around in her glass so that it tinkled musically, "I wouldn't have called you a quiet and calm child— from what Bolin's told me, you were quite rambunctious. You were a good older brother who was well mannered and talked kindly to everyone; you tried hard at your studies, but you found time to smile and laugh."

A frown descended upon his face. "I don't remember ever being like that," he stated bluntly.

A quiet 'thunk' between them as Korra put her glass down, "Well, that was before…well, when Zolt—"

"Yeah."

He did not want to remember that time.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, Korra kicking her feet back and forth idly. The air bender kids were squabbling amongst themselves, arguing over who had to do which task in the garden, and it sounded like the boy, Kai, was losing the fight. It was funny how they paralleled Team Avatar, but by the sounds of things, the third party of that group was nothing like he had been.

"You know," Korra pondered serenely, "You smiled a lot back then. That was one of the reasons I liked you—you had a nice smile."

Mako did not know what to say to this, so he remained quiet, and took another sip of the lemonade, grabbing an ice cube as he did so. He let it slowly melt in his mouth, the frozen water thawing slowly as time ticked by.

"You laughed back then too," came Korra's somber voice, "I don't think I've seen you laugh since our pro-bending days."

"I laugh," he stated indignantly, the ice cube getting in the way of his tongue and slurring the words slightly.

"I mean really laugh, Mako," she said as turned to face him, "I'm not talking about giving an amused snort once in a while—I mean _really_ laugh, _really_ smile."

"I haven't had any reason to smile," he said shrugging, the ice cube slightly smaller in his mouth, and not hindering his speech as much.

"I mean, that's understandable, considering what happened to you and everything," she said quietly, turning away from him.

He scowled; they were back on this topic again, and he did not want to speak of it. She didn't know it, but the alley way, where he witnessed his parents killed, was a little ways from here, and the closer they got to discussing the murder of his parents, the closer the alley way seemed to feel. It was like a twisted presence that was looming over him, getting closer to him every time he thought about the deaths of the people he cared most for. He didn't want to have to go via that alley if he could help it—he wasn't ready, not yet.

"But you know, you could learn to smile again," Korra said passively, "I know that you can't ever forget what happened, but that doesn't mean you should let it hang over you all the time. It's just stupid not to smile ever again, over anything."

She sounded slightly uncertain, like she was pondering if the two most important people in a child's life would be something to make an exception to. It was obvious that she was aware that she couldn't begin to understand.

"It will continue to follow me," he stated coldly, "until my parents are avenged, until Zolt has paid for what he has done; the death of my parents will always be the first thing on my mind. And until things are put to an end, I have no reason to smile."

She gave a weary sigh, "No offense, Mako, but that's stupid. You should smile when you're happy, even if Zolt is out in the world. Would you give him the satisfaction knowing that you gave up enjoying life just because he was alive? You can't tell me that you're constantly thinking of your parents, every minute of the day. There must be some time that you tuck away that thought and focus on other things."

He scowled slightly, ignoring the reason in her words. The ice cube in his mouth was no larger than a sliver on his tongue as it slowly melted away, becoming no more than a trickle of water.

"Don't be annoying."

"As you will, Mako," she replied and the sound of movement told him that she was standing up, "Just try to smile a little more. For me? Please?"

He grunted in a way that was neither yes nor no, and held out his empty glass of lemonade for her to take from him. After taking the glass from him, he watched her collect the rest and pick up the tray she had brought them in on. After she departed, losing his eyes, he shifted his position so he was leaning more comfortably against the pole, letting one leg hang over the edge of the veranda as he listened to the air bender kids group hard at work.

_Smiling_. He shook his head slightly side to side. No matter what Korra said, he knew that there was no possible way that he could bring himself to smile. The very word seemed strange when mentioned in association with him. Smile for her? He didn't have any reason to smile for her, or for that matter, anyone. Zolt lived, that was reason enough _not_ to smile to begin with.

'_Would you give him the satisfaction knowing you gave up enjoying life just because he was alive?'_

Who said he wasn't enjoying life? Perhaps a part of him didn't particularly find it thrilling, but that was beside the point. Even if he wasn't exactly enjoying it, Zolt didn't have to know that it was as a result of him. Mako ignored the fact that that probably wasn't Korra's point. She said to smile when he was happy, but he couldn't be happy when his parents murderer was alive—true happiness had been stolen away from him as a child, and true happiness could only return once Zolt had atoned for the crimes he had committed. Either that, or he somehow magically regained his bending.

The light footfalls, which he had come to associate with Korra, returned. Mako wasn't expecting her touch as she stood behind him and wrapped a dark cloth around his eyes, causing him to jump slightly in surprise. Sitting down beside him, she took his hand. Her thumb grazed his knuckles briefly before she turned his hand over, and slapped something down in his hand. He closed his fist over it, feeling its shape. It was an egg shape, and by the feel of things, made of wood, with tiny little grooves or cracks running over it, making the surface a little rough.

"What is this?" he asked her, holding up the object.

"It's a simple three dimensional puzzle," she replied lightly, "It'll be a while before the air bender kids are finished in the yard, so in the meantime you'll be working with this."

"You want me to assemble a puzzle?" he asked her, his eyebrows raised slightly and a dubious tone in his voice.

"Yeah, basically," she replied cheerfully, "It'll help you be able to do everything from cooking to opening locked doors, dismantling traps and an assortment of other things. If you can assemble even the most complex puzzles by touch, there's hardly any small job you can't do."

She took the puzzle from him and after a brief moment, she returned it in two pieces to his hand. He tossed them lightly in his palm, listening to them clack against one another.

"Do you really feel the blind fold is necessary?" He sighed. After a few moments of passing the puzzle between his palms he asked "Two pieces?"

"Mm, not as easy as it seems," she replied, a mischievous tone in her voice, and in his mind's eye, he could see a matching expression on her face, "It can fit together in multiple ways, but you'll know that it's right when the two pieces don't have a gap between. Good luck."

And with that, she stood up and went out into the yard, chatting with the children happily, leaving Mako with the simple, yet intricate puzzle to work on.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

* * *

A shorter chapter this time around but shows progress in Mako and Korra's friendship.


	16. Chapter 16

Fade to Black: Chapter Fifteen

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Korra worked constantly with Mako in adjusting to his still weakened state, and she was happy to tell Katara that he was making excellent progress. It had been a while since she had handed him the first three-dimensional puzzle while the Air bender kids cleaned the yard, and now she found that she could give him a number of different puzzles and he'd be able to solve them within minutes. Her control over her bending was improving since she had found a rocky dell behind a cliff, and she was now no longer torching things. Mako had also become somewhat accustomed to walking on his own, and while he couldn't walk across the house by himself, he could at least go from the their room to the bathroom without Korra's aid—but he still was fairly loud as he woke her up every time he would get up in the middle of the night.

She found that he had been working himself hard, and every night he would crawl into his bed exhausted. He had taken to just crawling into bed with his clothes on, having been fed up with Korra throwing his discarded clothing at him when he left them on the floor. Apart from Mako's personality and pride, which caused the occasional abrasion, there had been no disagreements between them.

Of all the training that they did, Korra enjoyed the daily walks around town, finding that she could easily ignore the fact that it was rehabilitation, and could simply enjoy spending time with Mako. Though she and Mako didn't tend to have long drawn out conversations on their walks—unless it was over something important, and usually disheartening—she learned a few things about him through the small chitchat that they could keep going between them. For instance, apart from Mako having a taste for seal jerky, he also disliked dampness, the smell of the hospital and loathed The Lieutenant, the loyal right hand man of Amon.

"What did you do for the year when you were in the hands of Amon?" she had asked him once.

He had shrugged and gave a simple reply, "I was a prisoner Korra. There really wasn't much to do but try and get through each day without going insane."

She had asked him a few more things, but he had refused to give any extended responses, and the matter was dropped. He either didn't want to respond, or he simply could not remember parts of the time he had spent in with the Equalists.

People tended to visit, Bolin being the most frequent caller, along with Asami and occasionally the Air bender kids and Tenzin. Lin had been unable to visit because she was out on another long-term mission in some foreign country and wasn't due back until towards the end of June, while Korra's mother had come over after the first week of them living together so that she could 'see how things were going'. Korra knew that she just wanted to make sure that Korra was safe. As for Korra's father, he too, was still on an extended stay in the Northern Water Tribe.

Mako seemed to be taking it all neutrally, but Korra supposed that was his way of taking it in a good light. No matter how he was taking it, it was better than him treating all of them coldly.

He seemed oblivious to his progress rate, and seemed to have this notion that he was either not making good time, or he wasn't working hard enough; Korra couldn't decide which. She didn't like how he was pushing himself to his limits, afraid that he would inadvertently cause permanent damage if he got too overconfident. That was why she was somewhat glad when she woke up one morning to find that it was raining heavily.

She had just finished putting lunch on the table, having let Mako sleep late again due to the bad weather, when she looked up in time to see him attempting to walk across the living room. She quickly leapt over the table and stopped him from tripping as he toppled forward toward the wall. The hallway was no problem for him, as he could reach for the wall, and the bedroom was no issue either, but he still had difficulty crossing larger rooms.

"Hey, remember what I said about crossing the living room?" she scolded him, having pulled back on his arm, so that he almost lost his balance and fell into her anyway.

"Yes," he replied irritably, "What time is it?"

"It's twelve, noon," she replied curtly, then continued her reprimands, "I don't want you pushing yourself, you hear me? You're making good progress, better than anyone else would be able to in your place, so you don't need to overwork yourself, okay?"

"You let me sleep in?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow, then frowned slightly.

"Listen," she told him quietly and there was a short pause.

"It's raining," he said after a moment, hearing the quiet pattering on the roof and outside.

"Exactly," she told him, leading him over to the table where he sat down and proceeded to pick up his chopsticks, inspecting the food she had prepared, "Everything that I thought we could do today was just negated by a change in weather."

"So what are we going to do now?" he asked her, prodding at his food, "And what did you make for lunch?"

"I was thinking we could maybe get you to work on you getting around the house unassisted. I mean you can get from our room to the bathroom and back, but I can tell that you don't like having to be helped everywhere else. Seeing as you've lived here for a fair majority of your life, it shouldn't be too difficult," she replied, sitting down opposite him, and resting her chin placidly in her palm, gazing across the table at Mako.

"I see," he replied evenly, "Lunch?"

"Guess," she challenged, a smile coming to her lips

"Soup, obviously," he told her, stirring the contents with the chopsticks, "Smells like seaweed soup but sure doesn't look like it."

Tentatively, he picked up one of the pieces floating in the soup, inserting it into his mouth.

"It tastes like seaweed soup," he said after he had swallowed the piece.

"If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck," Korra mused cheerfully, her turquoise eyes sparkling, "Then it must be a duck, right?"

He gave a crooked smile from across the table and continued to eat the soup.

"Almost had a smile there," she told him, standing up and pouring herself a cup of tea that she had made to go with lunch.

It was something that she said to him on occasion, so he treated it with the usual neutral grunt for a response, generally ignoring the statement.

"Korra."

"Mmm-hmm?" she set the pot aside and put the mug on the table, about to sit down.

"Someone is banging loudly on the back door," Mako informed her, before sticking a piece of laver into his mouth.

A confused look crossed her face as she straightened up again, walking around the table and to the hall, "Strange, who would be out in this weather…?"

"Korra!" came a loud bellowing noise from on the other side of the door.

Of course; who else but Bolin would be crazy enough to go outside in such terrible weather? Knowing him, he probably wasn't even wearing a heavy jacket or anything to keep him warm. She opened the door and discovered that she was right; he had just worn his usual green apparel and had no umbrella. To top it all off, he came inside even before Korra could even utter a greeting.

"Why don't you come in?" Korra asked him sarcastically, closing the door behind her as he shook his head like a wet Polar Bear dog.

"Eh?" Bolin peered at her in a confused manner, "Kor, I'm already inside. Are you feeling well? Is Mako putting too much stress on you?"

Korra blinked at him in a manner that clearly portrayed that she thought he lacked intelligence.

"No, I'm fine," she said with a small sigh, "Here, let me take your coat; it's soaked."

He removed his button up coat and Korra took it from him, motioning for him to follow as she headed back to the small kitchen, thinking of a couple places she could hang the garment to dry.

"Actually, there's a hole in it near the bottom, on the left," Bolin said sheepishly as they entered the kitchen, "I was wondering if you could fix it."

"Sure, I should have time today," she said offhandedly, "Sit down, I'll get you some tea."

"Bo," Mako greeted evenly as his younger brother took a seat next to Mako.

"Hey, bro," Bolin grinned—seeming to forget that it was actually the afternoon—before turning back to Korra, "Kor, could I have some seaweed soup too?"

"Fine, fine," she said in resignation, a small smile gracing her lips.

Over the few years she'd known them, Korra had come to notice that that when Bolin and Mako weren't at each other's throats, bickering, they could actually be quite pleasant to listen to, not having a single insult thrown in or any name calling. It was moments like these that she felt that they were truly whole again.

"You must have some reason for coming to this part of the city in the rain," she told him, setting down a mug of tea and some seaweed soup as well, "Why are you here?"

Wrapping her hands around her own mug as she sat down, she peered patiently over at Bolin, who was slurping up the soup in a manner that would have Meelo proud. He stopped only long enough to give his answer before beginning to eat in an unsightly style once more.

"I have a letter from Lin for you," Bolin informed her, the soup apparently distracting him.

"A letter?"

Bolin set his chopsticks down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before reaching for the letter in his pants pocket. Withdrawing it, he handed it across the table to her. Mako turned his head up to face her as she opened the yellow envelope.

"It's a really scary letter, just so you know," Bolin said with a shudder.

"You read it?" Mako raised his eyebrows slightly in disbelief at his brother.

"Well, I just wanted to know what it was about, but the beginning was too unnerving for me to get to the end," Bolin replied, fidgeting nervously with his chopsticks.

Frowning a little, Korra withdrew the white folded papers from with in the envelope and after unfurling it, she laughed out loud.

BOLIN! PUT THE LETTER BACK IN THE ENVELOPE THIS INSTANT!

After reading the bold statement aloud so that Mako could find out what was so funny, a smirk passed over the fire bender's face; Korra turned back to Bolin, a twinkle in her eye.

"You certainly have a reputation," she noted with a grin, before turning back to read the letter, skipping over the loud message written at the top. As her eyes scanned the words, she ignored the background noise that Bolin had produced.

"Oi, why aren't you wearing dad's scarf?" Bolin pestered, noticing that Mako's neck was indeed void of the red scarf that usually adorned it.

"I haven't put it on yet," came Mako's reply, "Idiot."

"Hey!" Bolin cried indignantly.

The bickering was tuned out after that.

'_Korra,_

_My apologies for the bolded line above, but I wouldn't put it past Bolin to try and read the letter to find out what it is. You and I both know how he is._

_On to more pressing matters now however; I am writing this letter to inform you of the outcome in regards to Mako's situation. As you are no doubt aware, he has been questioned three times since his return to Republic City and after discussing it thoroughly with my fellow city council members, we have come to an understanding that he has given us as much information as he is able. However, even though he has been of utmost help in providing us with knowledge of the Equalists, there has been a collective agreement that that alone isn't enough to pardon him entirely of his possible involvement with the sect. I tried my best, under the circumstances, to get him cleared as there is no proof he was or involved with the Equalist faction._

_It has been decided that his 'observation' shall be undertaken through a number of hours of community service. Do not be deceived by the word 'hours', as the time he must serve is three months—just over two thousand hours. _

_However, knowing what I do about Mako, he will not be eager to do hours of community services in the way of doing odd jobs about town, so I took into consideration about the request Mako put forth to you and ultimately myself, in returning as a Detective. Knowing that would take a couple months longer than regular rehabilitation, I have decided to permit you to honor his request and continue to stay with him. If there is any controversy or complaints, tell me and I shall have it straightened out. The reason I am allowing you to assist Mako in retaining his position as a lesser level Detective, is so that he may work off his hours in the form of missions. I expect you to train him well, Korra. _

_Good luck with rehabilitation, and work hard. You haven't wasted your time training with me—remember that._

_Chief of Police, Republic City of The United Nations, Lin Beifong._

_P.S. I expect periodic updates on your progress._

"Well?" Mako asked, as she folded the letter up, placing it back in the envelope.

"What did it say, Kor?" Bolin asked, blinking at her curiously.

Korra gave a small sigh, not sure whether this was good news or bad. Pondering over how she should put it, Mako tapped the table slightly with his fingers; a sign that he was getting somewhat impatient.

"Well, Mako," she started, still somewhat thrown off by the letter's contents, "You're not having any charges placed against you—however…"

"However…?" he raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You're still suspected of potentially aiding the Equalists in their attacks against Republic City and thus have been placed under observation," Korra said calmly, "For a total of three months."

"_What?!_" Bolin exclaimed, bursting out laughing in disbelief, "Mako is suspected for _aiding_ the people who abducted him?

After casting a glare in his brothers' direction, Mako turned to Korra, "Didn't they find my information helpful?"

"Yes, but the city council decided without my consent that it wasn't enough to give you a full pardon," Korra shook her head wearily; she herself had hoped that what he had given them would have been enough to get him off the hook, "Lin has however stated that you can work off your observation hours in the form of missions for the city police force, as a way to prove your loyalty to Republic City citizens. This means that she is permitting me to stay longer, until you are fully trained again."

"Good," he stated in response, taking up a spoon for his seaweed soup.

"_What?!_" Bolin exclaimed, sobering from his peals of laughter, "You're staying here _longer?!_"

"Bo…" Korra scowled slightly.

"The City Council is permitting you to stay?" Mako said after a moment, "You told me that I was the one who decided when you left."

There was another explosion of protest from Bolin, which both Mako and Korra ignored, each boring their orbs into the others.

"Yes, I did say that. But I'm still the Avatar Mako, and my duties to the citizens of Republic City and the United Nations don't just vanish now that I'm with you. Lin and the Council Members have the power to pull the plug on any missions or tasks I may be partaking in. You're lucky however that she approves of this one, and therefore the power falls to you," she explained somewhat aggressively, pouring some more tea into her mug, "Personally, I think it should be a decision made between the both of us, so even if she told me to leave, I wouldn't."

"Hm."

"Kor," Bolin moped in a desperate manner, "Have you no decency?"

"Bo," she countered in a sharp retort, "Have you no manners?"

Korra grinned in satisfaction as the Earth bender boy shut his mouth; Mako smirked faintly as he ate his soup.

* * *

The rain was pelting down hard on the cobbled pavement as Mako walked next to Korra, the pair of them making their way to another part of town. Korra was making him explore the changes in the city, allowing him to soak up the many finished and ongoing developments, and then promptly took him into a new location, one in which he then had to get used to as well. He had grown a little apprehensive as he realised which direction they were currently headed; they had passed through almost all the lower side of town already, leaving only a few alleys and lanes unexplored.

Korra stopped before a non-descript alley way and a cold dread filled Mako's stomach as he realised where they had stopped—he knew they would stop here, but he had been inwardly hoping that this end of town would go overlooked, bypassed and unnoticed by his mocha-skinned companion.

A sudden gush of wind gushed through the alleyway, bringing with it a musty smell, among other things that currently escaped Mako's mind. The wind carried with it the smell of dank, dust and disinfectant—the third failing at hiding the other two. A presence seemed to come from the alleyway which Korra beckoned for him to walk down, something foreboding and forbidden, and he could see in his mind's eye the darkness that was beyond the opening, longing to swallow him like a large gaping maw. He felt his body tense up from head to toe, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Even though he and Korra had been strolling through town quite regularly over the past three weeks, they hadn't yet set foot in this part of town, and Mako had avoided doing so at all costs. Yet now it seemed inevitable, and he would be forced to enter the alleyway that held such horrible memories.

"Mako?"

Her tone was questioning. He didn't blame her. It was a regular alleyway, completely normal, how could she have the same connotations towards it as he did? He moved one foot about five centimeters forward, but then stopped, his feet seeming glued to the ground as if through some unnatural force. There was a discomforting pause—a silence that seemed to emit from the very alleyway before him, threatening to devour them.

"…You don't have to go down there if you don't want to," she said quietly after a moment, startling him slightly at the sound of her voice.

"I'll go," he told her firmly, taking another step forward.

He hated himself at that moment for being afraid. When was the last time Mako had been afraid? A long time ago, and it hadn't been of an abandoned alleyway. He forced his legs to move against their will and down the dark alleyway. There were light fixtures overhead, but in his mind, they were blacked out, the alleyway shadowy just like the time he had run down it to be overwhelmed with the stench of burnt flesh and bloodshed.

Korra had dropped his arm, and he secretly wished she hadn't—he felt isolated now, vulnerable. Automatically his right hand traveled to his left shoulder; he lay his hand over a streak of scar tissue that ran across his shoulder. Zolt's flames had singed him there, when he was eight years old. More than ten years had passed since then, yet he could still feel the sting of the wound as clearly as if it were fresh at that very moment.

The palms of his hand became moist, and this throat constricted oddly, his body stiffening up again. There had been blood… He had seen it as he lay on the floor sobbing, the red liquid trickling down along a crack between floorboards—it was his parents' blood. His left hand was clenched into a fist, and his right one was squeezing his shoulder so hard that it felt like his collarbone would break under the pressure. He felt nauseated—sick; the memories washed over him so heavily that he could see the events replaying right before his eyes.

"Why?" he murmured so quietly that only he could hear himself, "How?"

_Just to see if I could do it_.

"Mako!"

He was harshly jolted back to reality as Korra called out to him. He had completely forgotten about her presence, and now that she had spoken his name, the memories seemed to fade back into the past instead of invading the present. He extended his hand out to the direction of her voice, and she grabbed onto it immediately, running her thumb over the back in a reassurance. He held her hand more tightly than was necessary and focused his attention on it, but the memories refused to leave his mind.

"Let's not stay here," she told him after a moment, and she tugged on his hand suggestively, but he did not move, "Come Mako."

Giving a sharp pull, she took him from the alleyway, leading them both back the way they came. The threatening atmosphere that engulfed him was instantly dispelled as they reached a crowd filled street, and his limbs relaxed again, his throat loosening up. The feeling of sickness passed, and in the ensuing silence, he could hear the falling rain. It was then he realized that his hand was still clasping his shoulder, and he knew that it was probably badly bruised. Motioning for Korra to take him elsewhere, neither of them said anything—she probably didn't even know what was wrong with him. Little did Mako know that as soon as Korra had made her way down the alleyway, she had seen the dark bloodstains smeared on the cracked pavement.

* * *

After leaving the alleyway where his parents had been murdered, Mako put the event aside, firmly ignoring it. He had regained his regular temperament and Korra didn't ask him about it, knowing that if he wanted to share, he would. However because he did not want to share, both acted as if nothing had happened.

He was now currently walking slowly across the living room, trying hard to make it across without stumbling over any pieces of furniture. He found that this was more of a difficult task than what he had anticipated it would be as he stubbed his toe on the table leg. Repressing his less than gentlemanly curse words, he took a slight step to the right, a little irritated that Korra was not there to help him. Carefully, he took a couple of steps forward, coming up towards the couch. He was certain he was on the home stretch now it, so he took another step towards the wall in order to make his way around the couch but instead his foot collided almost immediately with it, and he stumbled, falling forward into the upholstered piece of furniture.

Korra came up behind him as he pushed himself up from the cushions and into a sitting position, scowling irritably. He heard a quiet giggle, which irritated him further, but he could never bring himself to be angry with her for subtle things like that. He just settled himself comfortably, quietly brooding over his injured toes and bruised knees as he painfully discovered where some hidden piece of furniture resided—that often occurred as he grew overconfident, moving too quickly for his balance to catch up to his eagerness.

He supposed it was because he knew this house; things should have remained untouched since he had been gone and not living there. Even though things had remained where they were, he had grown, and the distances between places were smaller and quicker to get to than he remembered. He was no longer his seventeen-year-old self, but rather a man with significantly longer legs. He was taller, so the ceiling was lower than he remembered, and all the windowsills weren't nearly as high off the ground. But even if things like that had changed, there were some rooms that he knew would never change, the living room where he, his brother, Korra and Asami had spent many a night together, stood out in his mind.

The cushion next to him sank down under Korra's weight, a damp…thing—a cloth or article of clothing—brushed his right side. Violently pushing aside his dark thoughts, he felt her lean her back against his own. He was slightly perpetuated by the presence of her flesh against his own but said nothing, instead he listened to her fidget on the spot for a moment, as he tried to figure out what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" he asked, giving up, his mind feeling worn out from having to do so much guesswork already, a nice distraction from bleak contemplations.

"I'm mending Bolin's coat," she replied in a serene—no, not entirely—peaceful manner, "He always pushes himself to the point where he's exhausted, and his clothes are a little worse for wear."

"You're a woman of many hidden talents, Korra," Mako told her after a minute, "You're the Avatar and a healer who can mend, cook, work with rehabilitation, save the world and you're good with children."

He heard her movement pause, and when she spoke, her voice was quieter than it had been before. "I suppose I am," a shift in the couch's cushions suggested that she had shrugged, "I never really thought about it."

"What else?" he found himself asking, for no particular reason—something he normally wouldn't have done if it had been anybody else.

"What else what?" she replied in confusion.

"What else do you do?" he asked. Korra had changed in the year they'd been apart, it had only taken the first day when she let him topple into that damned flowerbed that he realised that.

She paused for a moment, "Well, I know how to garden now, thanks to Pema and the air acolytes. I have a fairly good understanding of music, though I learnt most of what I know now as a child during my 'Avatar training', and my mother taught me how to mend and cook. As for children, I just like them I suppose—to some extent."

"I see."

As a silence fell between them, he closed his eyes and eased back into to the couch, his back still resting upon hers. He listened to the rain, which was pounding steadily on the roof, creating a rhythmic pattern. He rested his arm against his forehead, trying to rid his mind of the dark thoughts that consumed it—he could feel Korra moving, her movement rhythmic as well, as she mended Bolin's coat. Wishing for a distraction, he searched for the smallest changes in sound, the slightest ripple that would disturb the air. He could hear the creak of the fence as the wind blew lightly outside; something, perhaps a tree branch, scratching the side of the apartment gently; and if he listened hard enough, he could even catch the subtleness of Korra's breathing.

"Mako," her voice seemed unnaturally loud in comparison to her soft breaths, "I've been meaning to ask you something for a while…"

He tensed slightly, was she going to ask about his reaction when they had walked down that alleyway earlier?

"Hm?" a short, one-syllable reply, something that was helpful in concealing his emotions.

"At the other end of town, where the alleyway is, there's something strange about it," she said quietly, in a timid sort of way. She always used that tone of voice when she knew she was going to perhaps touch on something sensitive, like the death of his parents, or about Zolt. Mako was glad that in this case it was the latter.

"What of it?" he asked, just managing to keep the snap out of his question. Despite the fact that it was not about that alleyway he avoided so much, he was again reminded of something related to the topic.

"I was wondering what happened there," she continued, not stopping in her sewing.

She knew him. She knew that he was an incredibly private person and didn't like it when people poked their noses where they weren't welcome.

Mako pondered her question; was he really that easy to read? As for the alleyway, he didn't want to answer, but found no reason not to. Why should he tell her? Why shouldn't he? He never wanted to have to go there again, but half of him knew that it would have to be dealt with eventually.

"It was where my parents were murdered," he said after a moment.

"Oh," it was a quiet response, not much louder than her breathing had been.

"That part of town has been abandoned for more than ten years," he stated before Korra could ask any more questions, "And hasn't changed in all that time."

"It should be re-developed," she said after a moment's pause.

He scowled and lowered his arm from his forehead, turning his neck slightly to glare at her. Korra didn't shift from her spot at his action—she didn't flinch at his glares like she had when they had first met; either it was because she would no longer meet his gaze, or he was losing his touch. Either way, it annoyed him.

"Korra, I don't want to talk about this," he stated stubbornly, once again resentful that Korra couldn't understand.

"Mako, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen and that it doesn't still effect you." she stated patiently, "But I know better than anyone that pretending not to be afraid, only makes things worse."

"I don't want to talk about this," he emphasized again.

The rational part of his mind was telling him to listen to her, to be sensible. It was a reality that he would eventually have to face, as she had said, but the part of his mind that was passionate about his hatred for Zolt was dominant at the moment, and all rational thoughts were shunted to the side, blatantly ignored. Maybe it was because she could sense that he was angry, or maybe because she felt that he needed some sort of condolence, but Korra laid her mending aside and grasped his hand in hers, running her thumb over his knuckles tenderly. Mako did nothing; Korra didn't say anything. It was one of those rare times that he would let her touch him with no complaints uttered, no questions asked, just a poignant silence and a trace of understanding in the air.

* * *

A loud shout pierced the slumber that Korra had been experiencing, her dreamless sleep cut short in an instant. Sitting up sharply, she cursed herself for falling asleep when she was on her breaks at the hospital; she needed to be ready at an instant, and couldn't afford to sleep—someone's life could be on the line! Katara would probably give her a lecture once she…

It was dark around her, save for some faded light spilling in through the window on her left; she blinked in disorientation, when another shout—a curse word, followed by some muttering—caught her attention. She wasn't in the hospital, she remembered, berating herself; she was in Mako's apartment, and asleep on the futon that sat in the empty corner of his room. How long had she been sleeping here? Just over three weeks already; one would think she would be used to it by… Her eyes widened in concern; the cry that had woken her had come from Mako. Sharply she looked over at Mako's form, scrambling out of her makeshift bed and stuffing her limbs into her dressing gown. She hurried to his side, not bothering to tie the sash.

"Mako?" she murmured quietly, laying a hand tentatively on his shoulder.

He rolled over, and curled up in a ball on the bed, his form trembling visibly—Korra shook his shoulder slightly, trying to wake him, but to no avail. Shaking his head side to side in his troubled dreams, he was uttering a long stream of words, too quietly for her to catch. His fingers clutched at the sheets, as he flinched visibly like he was in pain, and then continued to mutter.

Nightmares.

She realised with sudden revelation that he was not hurt or suffering like she had originally thought, but something in the corner of his mind had been brought up for review in his sleep, and he was now quietly murmuring incoherent words into his mattress. She bit her lip as he gave another sudden flinch in his sleep; what should she do? Should she wake him? No, he would be angry with her, and embarrassed by the fact his nightmares had woken her. Should she leave him and go back to sleep? That wasn't an option either; she couldn't just leave him like this…

He gave another shudder and this time grasped his shoulder in a wounded manner, another shout coming from his sleeping form.

'_His neck?'_ she wondered dimly. No—it was too low down for that, he had been clutching it earlier when they were in the alleyway. The alleyway that had blood stained on the pavement—where Mako's parents had taken their last breaths. Horror washed over her as she gained a small insight into what plagued his sleep.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, she was overcome by a protective intuition; her heart throbbed painfully as she watched him suffer. She wrapped her arm around him, propping him up a little so that when she held his trembling form, his head resting on her shoulder, his forehead against her neck. Surprise took her as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist in an almost instinctive manner, like she was the only escape from the mental torment he was subject to.

He quivered ever so violently in her arms, though he was no longer muttering, a frightened shake of the head told her that her embrace wasn't enough. He needed further reassurance, something that he knew well…something that could touch his subconscious and soothe him. Korra wracked her mind for possibilities; she and Mako had never shared anything particularly intimate, a few lust filled kisses here and there but nothing of notable substance. There was nothing that she could think of that would remind him of her, telling him that she was there for him. Perhaps there was something from his childhood…the lullaby she had come across in the closet—the one his mother had written for him.

After tracing the faded piece of sheet music in her head, she began to hum the first few bars, the notes becoming clearer as she continued the song. His grip on her tightened as she hummed, but she didn't mind, merely returning the strong embrace as well, hoping that her humming would reach him somehow.

In the dim light that was spilling in from outside, she could see his face, marred with the look of fright. Then after a moment, his amber irises appeared as he half-opened his eyes, the fearful and confused expression not changing. His gaze was vacant and delirious, staring blankly forward, unable to make sense of his surroundings. Korra felt her heart go out to him as the trembling continued, but she did not break the song. What would it be like, she asked herself, to wake from a nightmare and still wonder with horror if you're still dreaming?

"Mum?" she heard him whisper shakily, clinging to her slender frame.

Her heart broke. Tears threatened to spill from her turquoise eyes and she pulled him closer still, if that was possible. She took a shallow breath and was barely able to choke back a despairing sob.

"No," she replied—distraught—yet managing to just keep the tremble out of her voice as she rested her cheek on the top his head. She refused to let the tears fall as she gently corrected him, "Korra."

"Korra…?" he murmured softly and brokenly, his amber eyes slowly sliding shut again.

The grip he held on her did not slacken as he fell still again, his body's trembling abating and his breathing falling into a regular pattern. Laying a hand on his head, she cradled him gently, allowing the tears to finally break free from her eyelids and slide over her face. She had always taken her mother's tender embrace for granted, but as she sat now with Mako asleep in her arms, his head on her shoulder, and his arms wrapped securely around her like a frightened child, she wondered… She wondered what it must have been like for him.

Through the biggest nightmare of his life, the one person who he could seek comfort and shelter from he found dead at Zolt's feet.

* * *

I return! Dear Lord it has been much too long and I do apologise for that. I am finally on break after eighteen consecutive weeks with work, travel and study. I return to classes on the 27th of May and I am hoping to update as much as I can in the time I have before classes commence. I really feel like I've lost the plot of the story, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated. I still hope you enjoy the new chapter (though I feel it's probably not up to par with previous updates). Enjoy!

Bonami27.


	17. Chapter 17

Fade to Black Chapter Sixteen: Ying and Yang

* * *

A quiet, and rhythmic thudding filled Mako's ears as he slowly came to wakefulness, the lulling sound slowly easing into his consciousness. He became aware of a warmth that was present, and as his mind gradually became alert, he discovered his arms were wrapped around something, or more rather, someone. His head was resting on someone's shoulder, arms encircling a slender waist, and as he lay there quietly, he felt the rise and fall that came with breathing. Arms enfolded him as well, holding him gently, a cheek resting softly on his head.

'_Korra…'_ his mind registered hazily, a memory of the night flickering slightly in his head.

From the position they were in, he knew that she was leaning against the wall, having slid downwards during the night. Fabric that was both thick and warm was against his skin, and then his lower body felt the sheets. It seemed that she was sitting on top of his bed, not having any blankets or pillows for herself, nothing to keep her warm except for the thick fabric—a robe, he determined. Shifting his position slightly, he heard her stir from her slumber.

"Mako?" came her faint utterance.

He dropped his grasp from her waist, and pulled away so he could sit up slightly, turning his face towards her, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Beside him, Korra shuffled so that her weight indicated she was sitting up. There was a silence, and Mako didn't know what to say. There was nothing _to_ say; he did not need to ask her why she was there, he knew why he had found her sitting on his bed that morning, though he would not say a word about it.

As he expected from her, she said nothing either, seeming both at a loss for words and not needing to say anything to him. He could feel her gaze on him, seeming neither hostile nor embarrassed, feeling steady and deep, yet calm and peaceful. She was expecting him to say something, but he did not.

"You were having nightmares," she said softly after the silence had drawn out considerably.

He gave a noncommittal grunt; he remembered them clearly, he did not need to be told that. Images still swirled mercilessly around in his mind, caught up in his conscious, trapped and unable to dissipate. It was an old recurring nightmare, one that had haunted him over and over since the murder of his parents. It had continuously come to him while he stayed in this apartment, and it was only after he moved out into his previous new apartment that they had stopped. He hadn't been in this apartment since then, and that was why he had not been so eager to return.

As a child, he had found out that if he trained or worked to the point of exhaustion, he would not dream, too tired to even bring up that which plagued him. That was what he had done over the past few weeks since he and Korra began living in the old apartment, and it had worked, his nightmares had not returned; however she had let him sleep late the previous night, and the activities they had done were far from strenuous. And that night, the nightmares had returned.

Again he had found himself down that alley, the alley in which his parents were found dead, Zolt's daunting form looming over the singed corpses with that indifferent expression on his face. Again and again the murder of his parents then played out in his head, a permanent consequence of being witness to their untimely death. And as he continuously begged with his conscious for it to stop, out of nowhere he remembered hearing music: humming.

"Where did you learn that song?" he asked her after a moment, turning away from her, sitting a sizable distance from her.

"I found it," Korra replied quietly, "in an old box in the closet. It was labeled 'music'; there was sheet music inside, written by your mother. There was an assortment of different melodies; that song included, among others. I told you yesterday that I had an intermediate grasp on music."

Mako was quiet for a moment. Songs his mother had written? She had always liked to sing, and was always humming a tune whenever she was working. He recalled no such box, but then again, he had simply shelved his parents' things after their deaths; having to deal with their belongings was too painful for him at the time.

"She used to hum that song to me," he stated after a moment, saying it more to himself than Korra.

"I hoped that song would soothe you out of your nightmare; it seemed pretty bad," she said sheepishly.

He closed his eyes for a second; soothe him? His memories of last night were no more than a hazy blur.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Korra asked him after a further few moments, her voice filled with concern.

He scowled and scooted slightly away from her, lengthening the distance between them. "Don't worry about me," he told her gruffly; he would be fine without her.

* * *

Now that the first of the nightmares appeared, his childhood method had begun to fail, and it came to a point where no matter how hard he worked at the activities he was given, the nightmares didn't abate, but instead seemed worse than before. Not only did his parents murder flit across his mind, but also scenes of the horrors he had watched while captive under Amon slipped in among them. Things that he tried to ignore and things that he had been forced to do in order to make it through each day.

Despite the fact that he had told Korra not to fret over his nightmares, it became a regular occurrence to wake up with her holding him protectively in her arms. He would find his head lying on her shoulder, his forehead against her neck, the pulsing of her jugular veins only enhancing the sound of her heartbeat. Other times he found that he woke with his head in her lap, one hand holding his head supportively, and the other lying comfortingly on his shoulder. And twice he had woken to find her lying on top of his bed, next to him, with his arms securely fastened around her waist. When they both would wake, neither would say anything, but rather would get up silently and get ready for the coming day as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

It was another one of those mornings that he woke with his head on her shoulder, and as he released his tight grasp on her, Korra shifted as well. When she was awake, he waited patiently for her to stand so that he could get out from under the bed sheets and sit on the edge of the bed. As Korra stood up to stretch, he heard her joints cracking.

"You shouldn't sleep like that," he told her neutrally, causing her to pause and stare at him, "It's bad for your back."

"Oh, probably," she replied noncommittally, "but if you're able to get a better night's rest out of it, I don't mind."

"You're losing sleep," he told her flatly, standing up from the bed, "Don't worry about me."

It was true that he was able to sleep better when she came and dispelled his nightmares, but he did not want her to continue to burden herself. If she were tired then it would encumber her daytime tasks, and slow his rehabilitation down. He would not have his own strength hindered by allowing her skill to slip.

"What if we came up with a compromise?" she asked after a moment's consideration.

"How?" he demanded, a displeased frown crossing his brow.

Both of them knew the answer to that question, but neither voiced it. As things stood, they were already walking the line of decency, and the only compromise either could think of would be crossing that line to where neither of them wanted to go.

"Just forget it," he told her firmly, glowering at her, "I'll be fine."

He had put a note of finality in his voice and walked over to the wardrobe to emphasise that the matter was closed. As he felt around inside his half of the closet, Korra stayed standing silently where he had left her, and it was only after he had collected a set of clean clothes and proceeded to the shower that she let out a small sigh and moved towards the wardrobe herself.

She was so altruistic sometimes, something that never ceased to amaze him; something that made him feel undeserving, but he put that thought aside. As selfish as it was, he had to kill those who had wronged him, no matter what happened, or what obstacles he came across. It was his goal, and nothing could come before that.

Korra shuffled past him as he exited the bathroom twenty minutes later and unhurriedly he made his way to the kitchen. Knowing that sometimes she could take forever, he wandered around the house, practicing walking without aid. It had been a just over a week since they had started walking around the house, allowing him a chance to restore his balance. The dizziness was as good as gone, only if he moved too quickly or halted abruptly would it come to him. It was a vast improvement, Korra had told him, considering the fact that he had been without his bending for only a month, his balance having suffered drastically, he was picking up on it so quickly.

He stopped in the kitchen, and took in the room; the low table with the cushions around it, the counters, the cupboards, sink, refrigerator; with each object he laid his eyes upon, he locked them in his memory, noting that while his life had changed so drastically in such a short amount of time, that his surroundings seemed to have remained the same; unaffected by the passing of time.

'_If only that could be said for everything else…'_

Mako walked over to the kitchen counter and laid his hand on the cool, smooth surface, feeling the texture under his fingertips. If he could do something now to save time, then they could get more training done that day. He reached up to the old cupboard door, stopping himself from opening said cupboard; he remembered that his mother had always kept plates and the like three cupboards down from the end. He walked along the counter, and when he reached the end, he opened the door.

He reached inside tentatively and when his fingers brushed a stack of clean plates, he knew that nothing had been moved. After taking one out and setting it on the counter, he reached up a shelf higher and took out two smaller plates. The glasses and mugs were kept two cupboards left of this one, he recalled, and soon two tea mugs joined the plates that were lain on the counter.

Pausing to listen for a moment, he could barely catch the sound of quietly running water. Mako grumbled in slight impatience; Korra was still in the shower. Ever since she had mentioned yesterday that they would be starting working on basic chaquan training that day, he had been anticipating it. Practicing the basic forms of fire bending was all well and good, but no longer being able to implement those skills in a fight, meant he would have to rely on martial art techniques to get him out of a tight spot if need be. However, training couldn't begin if they still had breakfast to be made and eaten.

He turned to face the fridge; he didn't trust himself enough to attempt making the tea, but he knew that there was left over steamed rice from dinner, and maybe he could make rice balls. After living with only his brother for most of his life, rice balls were one of the few things that he could make almost instinctively. He had made so many of them that even when he was twelve he would have sworn he could have made them with his eyes shut.

After a few minutes of opening various containers in the fridge, he finally found a square tupperware container that contained the rice. In his raiding of the refrigerator, he had also come across some seaweed she had put in as well. He put the other foods back in the fridge as neatly as he could and carried both the rice and seaweed over to the counter. Another few minutes of searching around the various drawers allowed him to procure a roll of cling film, which he took a square off. He worked in relative silence, listening to the running water of the shower as he put a handful's worth of rice in the cling film, salting it a little with salt from the little dish Korra had brought in from their first object recognition exercise.

Mako shaped the rice carefully into triangular shapes and once satisfied, he wrapped it with some of the seaweed he had found. Setting the first completed snack down on the large plate he had pulled from the cupboard, he started to work on the second. He set the sixth and final rice final plate as he heard the water from the shower turn off in the bathroom. Korra would be out soon. Stacking the smaller plates, and balancing the platter of rice balls, he slowly walked over to the table, knowing that if he fell, that they would be set back as they would waste time cleaning up instead of training. He made it to the table without incident however, and put out a plate for himself and Korra, the platter of rice balls in the centre of the table.

The second trip from bench to table resulted in the tea mugs to be set up next to his and Korra's plates. The bathroom door creaked open in the distance, and that brought to his mind that Korra would probably want to have something more to eat than rice balls. Becoming a healer had brought to her attention the importance of eating a balanced meal. As long as Mako didn't have to work out which food groups were the most appropriate for each meal, it didn't bother him.

The footfalls came quietly to the kitchen entryway as he was closing the container of rice. She had paused in surprise and had not moved from her position, presumably at a loss for words. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he walked over to the fridge, opening the door and sliding the box in where he had left room for it.

"You made rice balls," she said after a moment, sounding a little baffled.

"That I did," he replied, closing the door to the fridge, feeling somewhat proud of himself. Sitting down at the table, he waited politely for her, "I didn't make any tea. Or anything to go with them though..."

"Oh…well—I can do that," she said after a pause, looking frazzled and still sounding completely thrown off, but hurried into the kitchen nonetheless.

On top of tea, Korra ended up making a small meat tray, which contained some very chewy pieces of seal jerky; not that Mako minded at all, he had always preferred the chewy pieces more so than the tender pieces; something that many people failed to understand. Korra had complimented the rice balls he had made, but in return he only gave a shrug. Personally, after having years of practice, he thought they weren't nearly as good as some he had made in the past.

"You can have the last one," he told her, having kept count of how many had disappeared from the plate each time he took another.

"Thanks," she replied, and saw her lips curl into a small smile as she reached for it.

"When are we going to train?" he asked her in a straightforward manner. The question would have sounded outright rude if he had asked it to anyone but Korra; she was used to his behaviour, and knew that he hadn't meant the question impolitely.

"Right after you clean the dishes," she smirked, after audibly swallowing some of the rice ball, "We're going to the Arena. I'll tell you what we'll be doing when we get there."

* * *

It was when they arrived at Republic City Arena, having climbed up the steps to the upper floor, that Korra dropped Mako's arm and stepped away from his stationary form. No emotions were betrayed on his face as she stood before him, studying him.

"As I told you yesterday, we're going to be starting Chaquan training today," she said, getting right to the point, "I don't know how much you relied on hand-eye coordination when striking your opponents, so I want to test your skill. Hit me."

"What?"

"You heard me," she replied with an amused smile, "Don't hold back."

He frowned and did not move. "I don't want to render you unconscious."

A frown of her own creased her face; why was he hesitating? She was surprised; she thought that Mako would have swung at her with no second thoughts. She didn't think that he could hurt her, but apparently he thought otherwise; she wasn't sure if he was overconfident in his skill or if he thought that she did not have much skill herself.

"You won't. Even if you do manage to hit me, I'll be fine," she replied in a curt tone, then repeated: "Don't hold back."

He raised a fist uncertainly, taken up a fighting stance. She took one up as well, not so much so that she would attack him, but so that she could dodge any hits he threw at her. She did not doubt the fire bender's skill at all.

"Too scared to hit me?" she taunted, deciding to attack his pride; something she found herself doing more and more, "If you were a man, you wouldn't act like a coward."

Perhaps that was laying it on a bit thick, he saw through the last statement fairly easily.

"I would be a man to hit a woman?" he smirked slightly.

"No," she replied evenly, a smirk on her own lips now, "To hit The Avatar, don't be scared to hit me."

"I'm not," he replied coldly, her comments beginning to rub him the wrong way, "I'm worried about hitting you."

"Coward," she remarked mockingly.

He really looked like he really was about to hit her, but at the last moment he restrained himself. Her frown of displeasure deepened; Mako would have hit anyone by this point, but the fact that he had not yet tried to hurt her suggested strongly that he was indeed concerned for her well-being. Of course, that wouldn't do, because she couldn't find out anything if he refused to fight.

"When I sparred with Bolin, he wasn't scared to hit me," she tried again, continuing to taunt him, "He took it like a real training session."

"Fine," he snapped angrily at her, clenching his fist tighter, "But don't complain if you get hurt."

With that statement, he swung his fist at her, aiming at her face; she had anticipated this and simply shifted slightly to the left, his fist soaring harmlessly by her ear. His speed had been extraordinarily quick, as was to be expected. His speed was up from his Fire Ferret days, granted, but even though she had taken it into consideration, the speed was remarkable. But something didn't sit right—even with the speed, he wasn't going as fast as he potentially could and not because of his still lacking balance; he was holding back.

Korra noted this subconsciously, not paying much attention to it as she became aware of Mako's left fist coming in lower for a second swipe, attempting to land a hit on her before he hit the ground. The momentum of his first punch threw off his balance, and as he fell past her, he made a second attempt with his other hand, using the force of falling to give more strength to his blow. Korra knew immediately that she wouldn't be able to dodge this hit without leaping clear of the fight completely, which would be unfair in the close-proximity combat, considering Mako's condition. Focusing energy in her hand she reached out and grabbed his incoming fist; the blow would have broken her hand if she didn't use the chakra to cushion it.

Mako was now falling on her right, his left arm pinned underneath him and unable to move it because she was hanging onto it. Taking advantage of the position, Korra pulled on his left fist, pulling his shoulder, and consequently caused his whole body to be jerked unceremoniously over. Korra had not released his hand, and when he landed roughly on the ground, his left arm was in the air, restrained by Korra, and her foot was on his back, pinning him to the ground. In a last feeble attempt to strike her, he swung his right arm around behind him, trying to hit her foot off his back. Korra merely raised the heel of her foot and effectively trapped his right wrist under her heel when it arrived.

"Okay, that was good," she told him after a moment. She released his arm and took her foot off his back, and as he stood to his feet, grumbling, she gave him a hand, "You did very well: your aim was good, surprisingly good; you compensated for my dodge and tried to hit with your other hand. And you could've fooled me; all that tottering around the house, yet you're perfectly capable at sparring."

"Obviously," he spat grouchily as he grabbed his arm away from her, and she could tell that he was irritated with her. Korra smirked; poor sport.

"This is where it gets difficult," she said, running over the different Chaquan training concepts she had thought of in her mind; granted she had plenty of time to think it over the past month and a bit, but still, the ideas were scarce. She had hoped to find time to get away to the library to perhaps research the matter further, but Mako's rehabilitation had taken most of her time. Rehabilitation was coming along remarkably well, but it would be a couple more months before she could say that he could manage completely on his own.

"Difficult how?" he asked when she did not elaborate. She cursed herself for her tendency to get distracted.

"I want you to rely on your sense of sound rather than your sense of vision when up against someone; basically, I want you to learn the different attacks I will launch at you by their respective sounds, try to rid yourself of pre-conceived attack patterns," Korra told him slowly, still running over the concept in her mind. The idea was still vague in her mind and she wasn't sure if it would work, "I won't lie to you, this is still in theory, but I think it'll work. It'll also enhance your hearing so that you are easily able to pick up on subtler sounds, even if it doesn't work that well for hand to hand combat. The end results of this training should be that, even if I make variations in my attacks, you should be able to recognise the different movements' sound and predict the attack. This will take a long time, and even with practice, my estimate is that you'll only be able to guess my movements about ninety percent of the time."

"And how am I to _hear_ your attacks?" he asked her, the irritated tone fading from his voice.

"Rustle of clothing would be an obvious one," she replied lightly, "Things like that. Even if your opponent was fighting naked—which we won't be covering—you should still be able to pick up on the disruption of air molecules."

He seemed amused at the notion, and Korra smiled slightly.

"Will I be learning these movements through listening to routine practice, or will you be trying to hit me?" he asked, sizing her up, as if expecting her to attack him right at that instant.

"Just the movements to begin with," she laughed at his suspicious nature, "Remember, Mako, this is only the first day. Maybe if you can guess a majority of my movements by the end of the day, I'll let you try and hit me again. –Oh, and don't hold back again."

She gave a light laugh as the back of Mako's neck turned red in embarrassment; she had a feeling that he wouldn't hesitate next time.

Korra was sitting down on the ground next to Mako, his one arm grasped gently while she applied energy to the bruises she had given him, healing them.

* * *

They had spent the rest of the day with Chaquan training, not even stopping for lunch, and even now as evening was setting in, the thought of dinner hadn't really crossed their minds, both too absorbed in the difficult training to notice. True to her word, she had granted him a fight because as she had asked, he hadn't held back this time. He had been significantly faster this time, and she had a very swollen cheek at the moment, from when she couldn't dodge fast enough. Other than that, she was fine. Mako, on the other hand, had suffered a few blows from her blocking his attacks; he tried to hit her with such force that she had to use raw energy multiple times to prevent serious damage, and thus had caused him to bruise, but not her.

"You've gotten really quick," she told him with muffled speech, the swelling interfering with her tongue.

"You said not to hold back," he told her, with a small shrug once she had released him.

"I'm not complaining," she said, raising her hand to her face; healing one's own wounds was easier because the unconscious mind knew each and every part of one's own body, thus being able to have better control over the energy, resulting in faster healing.

"How's your wound?" he asked her after a moment.

She smiled slightly, lowering her hand from her face, the healing already finished,"I've suffered worse."

No flicker of emotion crossed his face at this comment, so instead she tapped his shoulder, a way she told him to stand without actually voicing it. She took his arm after they had both risen to their feet, his skin still warm from the flow of energy she had applied to his bruised arm.

"It's been a long day," she said to him, "Would you like to stop for dinner before going home, or should I make something when we get back?"

"We haven't been on our daily walk," he told her evenly and she raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise. She had always gotten the impression that Mako had never liked going on the walks because he never really considered it training to begin with; apparently she was wrong.

"Oh, well, we can do that instead if you like," she knew she had failed at masking the surprise in her voice, "Where would you like to go?"

"Has the sun set?"

Her confusion deepened, "…No, not yet, but—"

"I want to go somewhere where you can see the sunset," he told her, giving the small impatient tug on her arm, signifying that he wanted her to move.

"I think I know just the place," she told him after a moment's consideration, then pulled him along.

The sun was sinking slowly in the western horizon and she knew that if they wanted to get to that place in time to see the setting sun, they would have to hurry. They left the arena within fifteen minutes, and Korra took Mako through shortcuts Mako himself had told her about in order to avoid crowds on the streets when getting through town. She expertly made her way across town to a location where she knew they both had strong memories of. She quickened her pace as they neared their location, Korra pulling Mako over a white wooden bridge towards a maple tree. It was the tree that they had camped out under in wait of Amon's loyal supporters and a possible lead on Bolin's whereabouts.

"This brings back memories," he said, a look of nostalgia upon his face as they stood, facing towards the sunset.

"I came here a lot in the time that you were gone, just to sort of get away from it all I guess," her voice trailed off before she added, "The sunset does look nice from here though."

She took a position next to him, looking over the small lake that ran beneath them as the sun began to dip down below the canopy of the trees on the right bank. Making herself comfortable, she looked out over the peaceful scene; most people were at home eating dinner and as a result there was nobody around. She looked over to Mako and noted he had his eyes closed. She was surprised to see just how at peace he was.

"Describe it to me," he told her after a brief moment, snapping her out of her reverie, "Describe the sunset."

She cleared her throat and swept her gaze over the sky before beginning, "The sun is slowly sinking down in the sky on the western horizon, like a large orb of molten glass, glowing white. The sky is painted with a myriad of reds, yellows and oranges, wreathing the sun in a warm-hued rainbow, while the sky above us is fading into the indigo hues of twilight. A couple strands of cirrus clouds are drifting lazily ahead, glowing pink as they pass a patch of sky that is glowing a shade of vermilion. The sun is now dipping down behind the trees, and the broad leaves that have fully unfurled are silhouetted against the light, the edges rimmed in a golden glow—the sight seems almost supernatural. As they rustle in the wind, the light is scattered on the river's turbulent surface, and an array of shining ripples reflect the scattered light back up at us. As I look at you now, the light patterns shift over your face and dispel the shadows, seeming to fade into them and eradicate them. The sun has now disappeared behind the trees completely, and all that's left is the trace of gold that lines the arch of twilight that is setting in from behind. The cirrus clouds have faded to a lilac shade of purple and are slowly shifting to a midnight blue. The first star has appeared in the southwestern sky, shining like a shard of the purest crystal; the moon is nowhere to be seen."

She finished off her description, while gazing out at the lake, watching the lone star tumble over the waves of the ultramarine surface, disappearing and reappearing from view. A cool breeze rippled through the air, and the heat that came from exercise had long worn off; she shivered.

"You should wear something warmer," he told her after a moment, standing perfectly still, looking out over the park lake.

"After giving you a description like that, that's all you have to say to me?" she stated with mock irritation, a smile on her face.

He said nothing to this, falling into a thoughtful silence. She looked up at his serious face and she wondered what was on his mind; he was so unreadable, almost to the point that his world was intangible, untouchable. Even after living a month with him, he still was very reluctant to open up to her; while he told her things that she knew he would not tell anyone else, those occasions were rare, and often she had to prod him into telling her what he was thinking. He still was a tad wary around her, despite what he said to her in the hospital about trusting her, and even though she knew that she shouldn't be surprised, it hurt her a little.

"It was a good description," his voice was quiet, almost like he was saying it to himself rather than her.

Perhaps it was the tone in his voice, or maybe it was a wave of sympathy that suddenly washed over her as he uttered those words, but whatever the reason, she found herself compelled to do something to reassure him; reassure him of what, she did not know. Tentatively she slipped her arms around him, embracing him gently, as she looked out over the small lake, the inconsistent flashes of light illuminating the both of them. He stiffened slightly under her touch but after a few seconds he accepted the gesture, and slowly, almost cautiously, he put an arm around her shoulders, holding her closer to him.

Surprise caused her breath to catch in her throat; she glanced up at him, and saw that his face was masked in complete seriousness. He was turned out towards the landscape, his expression completely devoid of emotion, his amber eyes staring forward. But even with a deceptive mask, or a cold demeanor, actions speak louder than words—and appearances.

"Korra…" he murmured quietly, his words almost lost on the wind, "…Thank you."

Tears sprung up in her eyes at his words—the exact words he had imparted to her before he had been snatched from her grasp. The words prodded something deep within her soul, provoking memories that had been some of the saddest moments she had experienced. Never again—she promised herself, as they stood together on the bank where their romance had first blossomed—never again would she lose him like that. She would not let him experience that again—experience that which had caused him so much pain.

* * *

Eyyyyyy! A somewhat shot chapter this time round, but character build up and development was key in this chapter. Here's to hoping you like it. Should have another chapter up within the next week or so.


	18. Chapter 18

Fade to Black Chapter Seventeen: Deception

* * *

Training in Martial Arts was difficult, if not entirely frustrating. It was a week until the end of June, and a week since training had begun—almost a month and a half since he had been brought back to Republic City, on the brink of death, in mid-May. Even though his speed had managed to graze the side of Korra's face during training the first day, she now predicted that and was able to compensate. Since that day a week ago, he could not land a single punch on the young Avatar. Granted, the exercises had made things easier in the sense that he could discern which blows she would throw at him, and by the end of the week he could block about eighty to ninety percent of those attacks.

He remembered sparring with her during their Fire Ferret days, and was surprised, if not a little irked, to find that her technique hadn't changed at all. It was becoming increasingly obvious as he sparred with her now, his blocks one step ahead of her blows and a pattern falling into place.

A kick from the side came at him and he quickly blocked it with his arm; next would come a punch from her right arm; as expected, he blocked the blow as it came. He blocked the next few expected attacks, his mind searching for a possible opening in which he could get in an attack of his own.

Often he would keep her arms occupied with his blocks, and she would twist away out of his grasp before he could get at her, but if he could attack before then, he could have a chance of getting her. His two arms were presently occupied with blocks—he would have to go for a kick, a trip kick. He felt the pressure on his arms starting to ease, signaling that she was starting to spring away; he would have to strike before she was out of reach. He crouched speedily on his left leg, swiping out with his right, attempting to catch her at the side. He dropped his arms and braced against the ground, increasing the momentum of his kick. If she was surprised, and if he was fast enough, and if he hadn't waited too long, then maybe he could hit her. There were too many 'ifs'.

There was the quietest of gasps from Korra and he smirked at the sound. He had indeed surprised her, and now he was going to gain an advantage. The sudden shock of meeting more air instead of colliding with her feet forced him to convert the momentum to returning him to a standing position to prevent spinning out on the ground. She had jumped out of the way at the very last moment, causing him to miss her entirely.

Movement from the side—sounded like a lunge from the rustle of the fabric. He rolled away quickly and was startled as she leapt over his crouched form and grabbed him from behind. That was new, he noted grimly as he felt the touch of her fingers at his neck; she had never leapt over him before.

"That was good," she praised him, dropping her hands from his throat, and pulling him back up onto his feet. A dark cloud of irritation formed in his mind as he dusted himself off; he was frustrated for two reasons: first of all, when he figured that he knew her attacks, she had gone and pulled a stunt like that. The second thing that bothered him was that even though he knew that it was almost inevitable that he would lose the fight against her, it still irked him to lose, despite the loss being a given.

"Once more," he told her, as she dropped her arm, getting into a ready position. He would beat her this time, he told himself—just like all the other times…

"No," she stated firmly, taking his hand, her thumb ran habitually over his knuckles, "We went without lunch yesterday, and I will not have you go without again. You need your strength, Mako. –It's one o'clock now, let's stop for lunch, then we'll come back for the afternoon and try something different for a while."

"Like what?" he demanded grouchily—in his opinion, nothing was more important than getting his Martial Arts up to par. What was she thinking, trying to stop with physical training for the day?

"You need to become accustomed to laying and detecting traps," she replied lightly with a shrug, "And I also want to try a meditation experiment on you, so you'll need plenty of energy to put up with what I've got planned."

Meditation experiment? He had always had a strong mistrust of the Spirit World—and rightfully so. Many of the Spirits were out to trick you, trapping you in the Spirit World for all eternity. So when Korra said meditation experiment, he immediately became wary of the notion; he knew Korra would never do anything to hurt him intentionally. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was worried.

Reluctantly he followed her out of the vicinity, much rather wanting to stay and train the rest of the day with Martial Arts as they had done all week. But he had come to know Korra over the past month and a bit, more so than he had done in the past, and he knew that she would not hear of it. Korra had changed in personality, but while she was still kind to him and watched over him, she no longer reserved her sharp tongue or stubborn temperament for just Lin or Tenzin. She was firm, stubborn, and scolded him when she felt he had done something he shouldn't have, but she was kind, gentle and was there for him. Something sharp seemed to poke his insides as he realized that Korra was much like his mother had been—similar, yet different too.

He had also learned that while she often complained about her family, she deeply cared for them and he knew that she would be devastated if any of her immediate relatives were to be killed. She spoke fondly of them; she often protested about her father's tendency to be unreasonable; and she seemed to cherish her mother, whom Mako had come to respect in the few encounters he had with her.

As he and Korra made their way back to town, chattering pleasantly about the weather or something of the sort, he thought of Korra's family. Something within him seemed wistful, nostalgic and almost jealous—she had things that he no longer had, and he felt a protective instinct emerge. No one should ever go through what he had suffered; he would protect Korra, her family and her friends, even if it killed him.

Korra squeezed his hand suddenly as she became aware of his silence, "You're not mad at me because we stopped training, are you?"

"No," he replied shortly, shaking his head.

"Okay, well if you want to talk about it, just let me know," she said after a moment.

Always there to listen; she always accepted him, no matter what he did to her. The mere thought was almost implausible to him. It was then that he heard the quiet tune that she was humming into the summer breeze—the song his mother used to hum to him. Without really realizing it, he held her hand tighter; in response to the gesture, she put her other hand on his arm, walking closer to him in a supportive manner. And he didn't know why, but he didn't want to push her away; he wouldn't consciously acknowledge it, but the gesture reassured him.

* * *

"Oi! Korra!"

A smile came to the face of the Avatar as she turned her head to the call of her name. The voice was very recognizable, unmistakable to anyone who heard it. She and Mako stopped as she looked down the street to where they had just come from, where none other than Kai was jogging down the road towards them. Her smile turned to a playful grin as she mentally prepared herself for an onslaught of teasing, however the first thing Kai did was engulf her in an enormous bear hug.

"Hey!" she heard herself squawk in a very unladylike fashion, "Get off me! I'm caught on Mako's arm and you're hurting me!"

Kai released her with a laugh and grinned at Mako, "Heya Mako."

Mako gave an acknowledging grunt but made no other indication that he had even heard Kai.

"Still loaded with creative responses I see," Kai mused with a good-natured laugh, "You know, you need a nickname. Calling you by your first name sounds so formal."

"How about not?" Mako replied sourly, shoving his hands in his pockets now that Korra had dropped his arm.

Korra grinned at the ebony-haired youth's behaviour and turned to grin at Kai, "When did you get back? And how long until your next trip with Tenzin?"

"I got back yesterday—the next trip I hope will be ages away. It's so boring, visiting all the Air Temples with Tenzin," Kai replied heartily, shrugging off Mako's behaviour as well, then added in a teasing tone, "Why do you ask? So eager to get rid of me already?"

"Of course," she replied lightly, her eyes sparkling, "You have no idea how quiet it is around here with you and the other air bender kids gone. And if you and Meelo _both_ leave for trips at the same time, it's so silent that you can hear a pin drop from the other end of town."

"Ha. Ha," Kai remarked sarcastically before giving her a light punch in the shoulder, "Where were the both of you yesterday? We were expecting you two to drop by Air Temple Island. But you didn't. At all. All day."

"Oh, well we were out training all day yesterday," Korra replied, with a shrug, "Bolin's been complaining, saying we're anti-social. In any case, how do you know we didn't visit the whole day?"

"Jinora and I sat on the steps to Air Temple Island and waited. For _four_ hours," Kai explained with a shrug.

"Stalkers," Korra threw in with a smirk.

"But training?" he raised an eyebrow and turned to the silent Mako, "My sympathies, friend."

"Oh, stop it," Korra retorted indignantly, "You make it sound like I'm violent—you'll taint my reputation as a kind and caring Avatar."

"Kind and caring Avatar?" Kai laughed, "This is coming from the person who beat Bolin up for doing who-knows-what, and then heals him so she can beat him up all over again."

At this remark Mako gave a snort of deep amusement; Kai and Korra both turned and looked over at the Fire bender in surprise. A wide smirk decorated his lips and he seemed profoundly entertained by the mere notion.

"Almost had a laugh there," Korra commented, blinking slightly, before turning back to Kai, "And Bolin deserved that!"

However Kai wasn't paying attention, but was rather studying Kai with mild interest. "I've decided to embark on an daring quest and document it so that it shall one day be shared with the world. I shall call it '_My Epic Adventure on getting to Know Mako Better_'. Chapter one: Trying to make Mako laugh. But before I begin, he needs a nickname."

At this statement Mako turned his head towards Kai and raised his eyebrows ever so slightly—a slightly annoyed expression was on his face, bordering the emotion 'peeved'. Korra on the other hand burst out laughing and couldn't stop for about thirty seconds, a time span in which she had received a number of stares from passing onlookers.

When she had finally managed to get her giggles under control, she managed to gasp out a statement between her deep breaths. "I wish you luck on your epic endeavor, Kai," she mused breathlessly, "you'll need it."

"You always have the utmost confidence in me Avatar Korra," he replied dramatically, "You flatter me."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up," she smirked, holding her cramped stomach, "Anyway, we were on our way for lunch—do you want to come along?"

"If this guy doesn't mind—" Kai said jokingly, giving Mako a light punch on the arm, "—sure. –I really need to come up with a nickname for you."

"I don't mind," Mako said with a growl, shrugging noncommittally. "No nicknames."

A smile came to Korra's lips; she got the feeling that Mako had just agreed to Kai's presence because she had already invited him to come along, and was merely being polite—as polite as Mako could be. Inside she got an inkling that Mako wouldn't mind anyway that Kai tagged along; if he could stand Bolin, he could definitely put up with Kai.

"Come on, let's go," she said brightly with a light laugh, taking Mako by the arm while grabbing Kai's sleeve and dragging him after them, "There's a nice café that Hasook took me to once; we'll go there."

"What? You went out with a _guy_?" Kai suddenly exclaimed with melodrama.

Korra merely rolled her eyes. "Oh, just shut up," she retorted, shaking her head slightly, tired of the teasing.

Korra was too busy leading them towards the café she mentioned to notice, but Mako faltered slightly at Korra's ambiguous retort. Kai had caught the movement though and studied Mako for an insightful moment. Korra's response was a clear indication that she had never gone out with Hasook, but the tone in her voice merely sounded annoyed. If one did not see her actions, her remark could interpreted two ways: the first was that she was annoyed at Kai and just wanted him to back off; the second was that she was on the defensive over the matter and didn't want any more meddling in her private life.

Maybe Mako had just stumbled on the path, but Kai was doubtful—he had strong suspicions that his small stagger had something to do with interpretation number two. Now why this would bother Mako, he didn't know—but he had his suspicions and was going to do what he could to find out the answers. Getting answers from someone who didn't know, or trust you—hmm, could be difficult, better get working on his epic quest.

"Oi, Mako," he called out to the dark-haired man suddenly, "What do you think of the nickname 'City Boy'?"

Mako almost stumbled again while Korra choked on her spit.

"Absolutely not," Mako replied firmly, casting a trademark glare at Kai.

* * *

Mako was still feeling grouchy from the early morning losses that he had suffered while training, and while he didn't mind Kai, said boy wasn't doing anything to improve his mood. It was like having a second, less annoying Bolin around. Korra had beaten him twelve times that morning, five of which had occurred in very short succession between each other. Sometimes it was almost impossible to tell where on earth she was coming from or what her attack was. The rustling of her clothes and the jangle of objects helped to some extent, but it became almost useless on a windy day. Even with his speed, she was just too quick for him to keep up with.

The losses themselves were a hassle, but the addition of Kai, bouncing nicknames off of him wasn't really making his day any better. He was brooding, and he knew it. So what? He didn't care what others thought. He would much rather be training and devising methods of how he could conceivably kill Amon than take a break for lunch.

The first indications that they had arrived at the café came when the chatter of people on the streets became more concentrated. He was slightly thankful to have finally arrived, despite wanting to skip lunch all together—he was tired of having Kai bouncing nicknames off of him.

"Is this the place?" asked said Air bender.

"Yeah," Korra confirmed cheerfully pausing in front of the outdoor seating.

"I see a table over there," Kai said, "Do we just take a seat or what…?"

"Go grab it before someone else takes it!" Korra snapped hastily at Kai. Mako couldn't help but be reminded of how she treated Bolin.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh!" Kai exclaimed before his footsteps were heard jogging away.

Korra sighed slightly as they made their way to the table. She was humming that song again, but quietly; sometimes he wished she wouldn't, sometimes he wished she would—right now he was feeling both. He was distracted by the melody, so he almost committed another graceless act that day and crashed into an adjacent set of table and chairs.

"This okay with you?" Korra asked as she began to sit down. Mako nodded in response. "It's pretty busy today—tell me what you want, and I'll get it for you. Saves time that way. What do want for lunch, Mako?"

"Anything," he replied, crossing his arms and reclining back, "You know what kind of stuff I don't like."

"'Kay. Kai?"

"I'll have a large slice of cake," he declared after a moment's consideration.

"That's far from healthy."

"Oh come on, Korra."

A resigning sigh followed, "Fine, fine. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Her footsteps were soon lost in the chattering of the crowds, disappearing amid the clamor that came with conversation. Mako sat up in his chair, leaning forward so he could rest his elbows on the table, his fingers laced together under his nose. He didn't need to look at Kai to know that he was gazing at him intently, and after a minute or two of silence he heard the boy shuffle his chair slightly to his left.

"It's a nice café, I can see why Korra liked it when she came here with Hasook."

Outwardly, Mako made no movement, though inwardly he frowned slightly with confusion. Hasook; The Fire Ferrets original Water Bender. Bolin called him grouch or something of the sort. A slight frown began to descend externally on his attractive face—Korra had come here with _that_ guy?

Mako was too preoccupied with the concept to notice Kai's gaze on him. It wasn't his business whom Korra went places with, and he frankly didn't care. He was more or less confused by the prospect instead of bothered by it. Of course it was absurd to expect her to wait forever on him, and he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised if she went out with other guys. But Hasook of all people? What on earth had caught Korra's eye that had turned her attention away from Mako and towards Hasook…?

"You seem lost in thought," came Kai's voice, jolting Mako slightly from his reverie.

He gave a grunt that could easily be interpreted as 'bugger off' before shoving all thoughts aside. The fact that Korra had possibly gone out with Hasook did not bother him; Korra's love life wasn't his business, and he definitely wasn't going to concern himself with it. He was pretty sure that she still loved him, even though he hadn't heard her say it since he had left; and even though she had gone out with other guys, it didn't necessarily mean that she had ever felt anything serious for any of them. Not that he cared either way.

After another long spell of quiet, the boy who sat at the table with him braved conversation once more, "So, Mako, tell me about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" Mako resigned to reply, turning his attention to Kai.

"Anything," Kai said lazily, "What are your interests? Likes, dislikes. Favourite colour. Whatever you want."

"Training covers my interests. I don't like a lot of things. I dislike many things. Blue," he replied evenly.

"You sound like a very interesting person," was the reply, and Mako wasn't sure whether it was intended to be sarcastic or not, "But you're very vague."

He gave a light shrug, "I suppose."

"How are things at the house going?"

"Fine."

"How's the weather been?"

"Warm."

"Do you answer questions in anything but one word answers?"

"Rarely."

Kai suddenly slapped his hand down on the table. Mako flinched slightly.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Kai exclaimed enthusiastically, causing Mako to raise his eyebrows slightly. He supposed he had to admire the determination the boy showed in wanting to get to know him.

From behind Kai, Mako could see Korra approaching. He sighed with relief.

"What are you doing, Kai?" she asked in a tone that Mako knew she used when she was annoyed with Bolin or the Air bender kids.

"Mako and I are just getting to know each other better," came the cheerful reply as Korra set down a tray on the table, "What? Carrot cake? No chocolate? It's like you're afraid I'm going to get hyper or something."

"Hyperactivity is mentally-induced, Kai," Korra replied sitting down on Mako's left, "Your pancreas uses insulin to regulate the sugar levels in your bloodstream, so no matter how much cake you eat, you won't get hyper from it."

"Then why'd you get me _fruit_ cake?" he complained, and Mako was almost reminded of Bolin—almost.

"Because if I let the idea of fruit cake deter you mentally, you won't get hyper off of it," she replied lightly, before turning to Mako and saying, "I got you a sandwich, I hope it's enough."

"Mm. It's fine, thank you."

Kai sighed, "Fruit cake indeed!"

* * *

With Mako's hints pressing for more training, lunch passed swiftly and soon they both managed to remove themselves from Kai's company, but not before he had made many more attempts to 'get to know Mako' and bounced a number of nicknames off the young Fire bender. Korra was half-scolding Kai, half trying not to laugh—which didn't particularly please Mako, especially because he couldn't understand what was so terribly funny.

After politely excusing themselves, Mako and Korra had headed back to training in the gym of the Arena, where she was now spending the better part of the hour setting up a number of different non-lethal traps while he practiced his Martial Arts on a helpless test dummy. The training dummy was oddly satisfying to beat on—at least he could land some hits, and not appear completely graceless like he did when up against Korra. It would be untruthful to assume that he hadn't hit her at all, but most of his attacks were blocked, even if he threw in all the force that he could.

It mystified him that she could block such attacks and not end up injured; _how_ on earth did Korra block his attacks without becoming injured? It was apparent to him that while her attack routine wasn't any better she had dramatically improved in her defense.

'_How…?'_ he asked himself while taking another violent blow at the dummy, completely shattering part of its face.

It was something that he knew that he couldn't muster, blocking blows like that, not without injuring himself. That's why speed was such an important factor in his technique; he had to get out of dangerous situations before he got hurt. Yet Korra could take one of his strongest blows and not become injured at all. In fact, the only time that he had hit her, she said he had bruised her, and he realized that was because she had not gotten out of the way in time, and he had underestimated her then too, not hitting her too hard.

Korra—she was so much more mysterious about herself now, than when they had first met. She hadn't once mentioned the depression she had suffered during his absence, nor had she spoken much about her time with Katara. In fact if Katara hadn't mentioned that Korra had become spent time with her in his absence, he most likely wouldn't have found out at all. Contrarily, she was outspoken and would voice her opinion often; she would talk to him about almost anything, and even reprimand him—something she wouldn't have done so easily just a year ago.

"Mako!" Korra called to him from behind him.

Relaxing his stance, he turned to face her, waiting for her instruction.

"I've finished setting up the traps," she told him, "I want you to try and make it over to where I am without setting many off."

He shelved all perplexing thoughts he currently had on Korra, and focused on the task at had. He needed a good challenge; it helped keep his mind from wandering where he did not want it to go.

* * *

Korra watched with slight interest as Mako began carefully walking across the open area clearing that lay between her and him. There were a number of traps, but she knew that some he would come across right away, because he would be able to see the strings before setting them off. His senses had grown better over the month and he was starting to pick up on things that even she hadn't noticed right away. Additionally, he seemed to have developed a sort of reflex action to moving away from things he abruptly contacted, so coming across a trip wire would be easy for him. However the other traps, which she had disguised—she would have to see how he would react to those.

As he approached the first tripwire, Korra sat down on a bench at the opposite end of the room, watching his behaviour. Each footfall was placed with care, and as his leg brushed the first of the wires, he abruptly took a step backwards. That was close, she mused; the pressure on the line had bordered on setting the trap off. He kneeled and reached out carefully, his hands grasping the wire with care. He ran his fingers along the thin metal and after a moment, stood up again, taking a step over it.

'_Not bad,'_ she smiled, but it was far from over.

The next few traps proved to be easy finds as he crawled over and under each one without difficulty, however, as he stepped out over the first pitfall she had quickly dug— using the techniques she had learned with Lin—Mako ran into a little difficulty. He had put his foot down on the ground and felt it give a little under his weight; removing his foot and putting it back on solid ground, he stood motionless for a moment, pondering the dilemma. Korra gave a small smile; the pitfalls weren't deep, only a foot, but Mako didn't know that. Of course he could rule them out as being dangerous, because she hadn't spent that much time with the traps, however the unknown nature of the trap could still cause injury. Also, the goal of this exercise was to avoid setting off any of the traps, so it would be better if he didn't set it off at all.

He took an experimental step to the left and when satisfied, moved along.

Korra stretched luxuriously and leaned back against the wall. It would take the rest of the afternoon at this rate. She hoped it wouldn't take too long—she wanted to get that meditation experiment done. Closing her eyes, she rested a little; when she had blocked his blows that morning, she had drained her energy when she focused it in certain spots so that Mako wouldn't break her bones—she was tired, even though she didn't want to admit it. Mako would bother her about it if she let it show, saying that she shouldn't worry about him, and should get a decent night's sleep. Korra grimaced inwardly at the very thought, the hell she was going to let him suffer those nightmares.

A sharp snap and a twang caused her to jump alert again as Mako set off one of the traps. She opened her eyes just in time to see a small bag she had filled with dirt, whack him in the back, knocking him forwards. She couldn't help but smirk as Mako landed on top of one of the pitfalls, promptly falling flat out onto the ground. He had bypassed about ten of the thirty traps she put up, and had only set of two. He was doing well, she noted before closing her eyes again, ignoring Mako's colourful language.

* * *

It took only a moment for her drowsy brain to register that she was being called. Startled, she looked about wildly, trying to figure out where she was. Where was Katara? What was the situation? Was someone dying? Those were questions that automatically flitted across her mind as she was instantly awake. But the fumes of hospital disinfectants didn't meet her nose, nor were there the white painted hallways illuminated with that terrible fluorescent lighting.

Her body had become tense and ready to spring, but as she remembered where she was, she relaxed slightly, looking over at Mako, who was sitting down next to her. She felt guilty; she had fallen asleep.

"You fell asleep," Mako told her needlessly, causing her to blush furiously.

"Sorry… I just…" her voice faded away, having no idea what to say.

A frown descended on Mako's brow and she quickly stood up, trying to avoid what was coming.

"You're not getting enough sleep," he told her firmly, and she halted in her path, facing him defiantly.

"It doesn't matter," she told him, equally as firm, "Don't worry about me."

He grumbled incoherently, but otherwise made no other comment. Satisfied that using his own words against him had effectively silenced him, she turned away from him and surveyed the room. As she had expected, a number of the last few traps had been set off, as she had made them more difficult; she noted with satisfaction that he had at least made it past half of the traps without setting them off.

"You did well," she said honestly, his silence unnerving her. When he made no response, she went on to ask, "How long did you let me sleep?"

"As long as it took for me to get across," he replied honestly, beside her he shoved his hands into his pant pockets.

"Then it took you an hour to get across," she stated, a small frown of displeasure crossing her face, "Much too slow. Well, forget about it for now—it's growing later in the day. I want to try that meditation thing with you."

"What did you have in mind?" he asked her, and she barely caught the tone of uncertainty in his voice.

"Just simple meditation," she told him, turning towards him to better study him. The uncertain tone did not match the emotionless expression on his face. She wondered if she had imagined it, "It's an experiment because I don't know how it'll work on you. Meditation has different results on different people. The meditation I want to try with you is similar to that of entering into the Spirit world."

"Assuming it works, what kind of world would you thrust me into?" he asked after a moment's pause.

"I actually have no control on where you end up, I suppose I could try to cast you into a particular setting," she said off-handedly, "Anything specific?"

He shook his head, "It doesn't matter."

"Okay," she shrugged, then moving to stand in front of him, "Sit down opposite me and make sure you're focused on nothing but calming your mind; I'm going to try it now."

She stared straight into his eyes, aligning her turquoise irises with his amber ones. A serious expression was on his face, and she noticed that he was slightly tensed up; she wondered dimly if he was nervous. Meditation was not something to be taken lightly, and you had to trust someone to a tremendous degree if you were to willingly let someone phase you into the spirit world. Selecting a location in her mind, she formed the signs with her hands, and signing the last symbol, she focused her energy and prayed for the best.

* * *

At first Mako wondered if anything had even happened to begin with—it was dark around him, there were no illusions, and there was still the rustling of the leaves. Then the world spun dangerously and he felt himself lose his balance, the ground seeming unnaturally soft, and fake. He was falling over, unable to get his balance, and as he fell, he kept falling, and falling.

'_Mako…?'_

The voice echoed from far away, almost drawn out on the whispers of the breeze. It came from everywhere, no fronts and backs, ups and downs existing in the insubstantial world, yet he could recognize it as Korra's voice. He tried turning his head, getting a pinpoint on her illusionary location, but the vertigo was overwhelming, and he felt sick.

"Your projection had better be me falling endlessly over in a world with no directions," he told the air, trying not to vomit, "because that's what I'm experiencing at the moment."

'_No, that's not what it is at all,'_ came Korra's voice, _'You can tell it's an illusion?'_

"Yes," he croaked, holding onto his illusionary stomach, "Unless you want me to feel the sensation of falling endlessly off a cliff."

There was a pause, and Mako continued to feel ill, before her voice came to him.

'_Can you break out of it?'_

He considered the possibility for a moment. Once the body became aware of an illusion, it was generally simple to escape. If they had the ability to bend the elements. Mako however, no longer did.

He released his stomach and answered, "No. Without the ability bend I have no chance of breaking out of it. You'll have to phase me out of it."

'_Okay. This may be slightly unpleasant.'_

The world instantly stilled, and he felt his back against the ground; a dumbbell poking painfully into his right shoulder blade. He felt Korra's hand on his shoulder, and while the breeze through the window was still blowing softly, there were now birdcalls in the air, something that had dissipated in the illusion.

"Okay, so that didn't have any affect on you—visually that is," she said quietly to herself; Mako didn't move from his spot, the dumbbell jutting into his back was a nice reminder he was back in the real world.

He grunted at her voiced thoughts, he himself wondering when she had learned so much on meditation and channeling her spiritual energy.

"If you don't mind, I want to try one more," she said after a moment's pause, "There's something Tenzin taught me when I was studying under him. Though it's not as commonly used, due to it being in an inconvenient place to try and attack, meditation and phase points can be applied to the back of one's skull. Because most information received from the senses is received by the cerebrum's occipital and parietal lobes, close contact with it should have a greater affect on you."

"How is it more effective?" he asked, trying to absorb what she had just said, only getting a vague grasp on it.

"For it to work, one often has to trick the primary sensory organ: the eye. But if one has their eyes closed it's hard for another to channel into their spiritual energy," she clarified lightly, the explanation seeming almost automatic, and her mind elsewhere, "Most of the projection is recognized as information sent to the brain. But if one targets the brain directly, information is instantly received and perceived as true, before other parts of your brain can work out what's real and what's not."

"Why the back of the head?"

"The parietal lobe—which processes sensory information—and the occipital lobe—which processes visual information—are both located towards the upper back of the head," Korra continued, "Target those directly, and your partner, or in some cases opponent, should be projected into another dimension without being able to do much about it. It's a stronger method, and because of that, few people are able to break from it. Conversely, because the back of the head is difficult to gain access to, it is a generally unused practice."

"If you can get out of a forced illusion that was aimed at your head…" he started, voicing his thoughts—something he seldom did, "Then you can escape any kind of external dimension, correct?"

"In theory, yes," she replied lightly. "Anyway, with your permission, I'd like to try it on you. Just to see the effects."

He paused for a moment before answering.

"I trust you."

* * *

The sight of a wide-open field surprised him. The grasses were a lush green, the sky an uncanny hue of blue; all around him, cheer and happiness seemed to jump out at him in the forms of colour.

"Mako?"

Korra's voice was no longer coming from everywhere, but was projected from a spot behind him. Turning he saw the chocolaty locks, those bright turquoise eyes, but she appeared to him in the form of a child. As she realized that he was looking at her, a radiant smile crossed her face.

She walked over to him and it was as she approached that he realized that his mind had been misled so that he too was in a child's body. He reached out his hand to her and she met it with hers, their palms touching, and fingers outstretched. She felt real, looked real, sounded real.

"I guess it worked," she said happily, smiling at him, "You _can_ see me, right?"

"Mm," he replied, looking at their small hands before them.

"You don't realize how strange that sounds coming from you as you look now," she said, her smile fading slightly, replaced with a disapproving frown.

He shrugged lightly, dropping his hand away from hers, and looking out over the field. The location seemed familiar, like a place from a dream, or a forgotten memory.

"Where are we?" he asked her after a moment.

"I don't know," she said, coming up beside him, following his gaze over the horizon, "Somewhere I've not yet been in the Spirit World would be my guess."

"That's strange," he told her, a frowning deeply, "This place seems familiar."

"Really?" she asked, sitting down on the grass, toying with the ends of her hair, "A powerful enough projection can influence other parts of the brain that are associated with memory. Maybe that's why it seems familiar to you; perhaps you're being influenced by _my_ memories. Don't forget though Mako, false memories can be deadly."

Something jolted within him at this new information that she had given him. His mind registered two things at once. One was that if he had parts of his memory missing, as he did now, and if he was susceptible to false memories, he would be very vulnerable to attacks. What if Amon knew about implanting false memories? He could use it against him if he ever wanted to hunt down the young Fire bender. False information, false locations, false names—all could result in dangerous situations because he had no other memories to conflict with, or correct the implanted ones.

The second thought was the realization that Korra possessed the ability to cast a powerful projection on him, one powerful enough so that he believed that this world was from his own memories.

"Well, I guess that answers any questions I had on the influence meditation would have on you," Korra stated grimly, "I'll dispel it now."

"Wait."

He found himself speaking without even thinking of it, baffling both Korra and himself at the same time. He looked over the green field—a place that seemed so real, yet it was an illusion. It was entirely deceptive— a place with no war, no conflict or pain. He should know better, that a world like that doesn't exist, but…

"Mako," Korra said after a moment, her voice gentle, "It's not real. As much as you might want believe that it is, you can't forget how things really are. Don't lose yourself to an illusion."

He grunted in response, but did not turn from the scene, imprinting the scene on his memory until the very last moment when he woke, with Korra kneeling opposite him, the rock digging into his back, and the world—dull.

* * *

Long long chapter to make up for my long long absence (I'm slack, I know.) Now that I do find myself with a little extra time between study and work, you can expect to have a few more chapters coming your way soon. I can't say that I'm particularly happy with this chapter as I found it difficult to convey what I wanted. Essentially the visit to the Spirt World was, for lack of better description, a trip back to the past for both Mako and Korra. It was to a time where Mako's parents were still alive and he knew happiness and joy, as did Korra. Now though, as adults, their lives have led them into a world that is dull and full of pain for the pair of them. That is what I wanted to convey. Anywho, enough of my rambling. Enjoy and review.

Bonami27.


	19. Life Update

Hi all, followers new and old.

Let me begin by apologising for my lack of contribution to this story (among others). Life the past two years (late 2015 and 2016) has seen me go through a major pace change from moving permanently to another country and raising a baby has lead me to be less able to work on my fanfiction. I have in the past month or so, managed to find a few moments in the very little time I have, to write further progress in this story. I'm so thankful that even now, with very little online presence, that I receive messages from followers, old and new alike, wishing me well and praising what they've already read of my fanfiction; it's a great source of encouragement, so thank you. I promise to make a conscious effort to upload more regularly in the year to come but ask for your understanding if I happen to disappear for a while. Once again thank you, and please look forward to what I have instore!

Bonami27.


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